R CHINNA DURAI Vs. GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a Writ Petition filed by the Petitioner seeking for a direction to Respondents to appoint them for the post of Food Safety Officer as all persons who have completed their B. Sc. Graduation at Annamalai University through distance mode prior to 15.2.2007 are being appointed as Food Safety Officer and the same concession should be available to them.

(2.) It must be noted that the Government initially issued a G.O. Ms. No. 452, Health and Family Welfare Department dated 5.4.2007 directing the Sanitary Inspectors working in the Corporation and Municipalities to be deputed for Food Inspector training. The said Government Order named 50 persons for being deputed to the said training. In that case, the premise to which such persons were sent for training is that they were having Diploma from Vinaya Mission Research Institute or Distance Education from Annamalai University and therefore they are educationally qualified for undergoing training. The name of the present Petitioner finds at Serial No. 30 R. Chinna Durai in the annexure to the G.O. (D) No. 452, Health and Family Welfare Department dated 5.4.2007. Though this Court initially upheld the validity of the G.O., the matter was taken on file by the Tamil Nadu Grade Food Inspectors Association by its Organising Secretary in W.A.(MD) Nos. 236 and 237 of 2007. A Division Bench of this Court presided by P.K. Misraj, J., (as he then was) sitting in Madurai Bench by a common judgment dated 11.10.2007 had set aside the said judgment and the Division Bench held that the G.O. Ms. No. 452 issued by the Government requires reconsideration, since AICTE has not approved the Diploma Course offered by Vinayaga Mission and the course offered by the University is not recognised by the UGC. Subsequent to the Division Bench order, the State Government accepting the judgment issued G.O. Ms. No. 215, Health and Family Welfare Department dated 3.7.2008. In that G.O., in the annexure, they have selected only 16 persons for undergoing training by recognising the Degree obtained by them from IGNOU, University of Madras, Madurai Kamaraj University. With reference to the degrees offered by the Annamalai University and Vinayaga Mission, the Government in paragraph 6.2 stated that the training undergone by them from 30.6.2007 to 27.9.2007 conducted by the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine numbering 111 candidates and those who posses the basic qualification of Diploma in Food Technology offered by Vinayaga Mission Research Foundation Deemed University, Salem and 32 candidates who possess the B. Sc. Degree by Annamalai University as a Distance Course before 15.2.2007 are not eligible for being posted as Food Inspector. The persons, who are affected by the said G.O have not chosen to challenge the said G.O. The Petitioner, who was a party to the earlier Division Bench case and who filed the case before the Madurai Bench has once again filed the present Writ Petition with more or less similar prayer.

(3.) It is rather unfortunate that having been a party to the Division Bench order, the Petitioner chose to make an identical prayer insisting that in the present case, they want to be considered as Food Safety Officer. The basis for making such a claim was that a person who acted as food Inspector is entitled to be considered as Food Safety Officer. Therefore, on that ground, they are eligible for being appointed as Food Safety Officer. In fact, the Association to which the Petitioner belongs namely the Tamil Nadu State Municipal and Corporation Sanitary Inspectors and Sanitary Officers Association represented by its State President had filed W.P. No. 4024 of 2011 before this Court.