Chennai, June 2:
The Tamil Nadu government has officially released the cabinet seniority list of ministers, placing Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay at the top of the hierarchy.
According to the Government Order issued by Chief Secretary M. Sai Kumar, the seniority ranking of ministers has been finalised to define protocol order within the Council of Ministers.
Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay (General Administration, Police, Home, Local Administration, Municipal Administration & Water Supply) tops the list, followed by N. Anand (Rural Development, Water Resources) in second place.
Aadhav Arjuna (Public Works, Highways, Sports Development) is placed third, while Dr K.G. Arunraj (Health and Family Welfare) ranks fourth. K.A. Sengottaiyan (Revenue, Disaster Management) is fifth in the order.
P. Venkataramanan (Food and Consumer Protection) occupies sixth place, followed by R. Nirmalkumar (Electricity, Law, Elections) in seventh, and Rajmohan (School Education, Tamil Development, Information & Public Relations) in eighth. Dr T.K. Prabhu (Natural Resources, Minerals) is ninth.
In the subsequent positions, S. Keerthana (Industries) is tenth, P. Viswanathan (Higher Education) eleventh, S. Rajesh Kumar (Tourism) twelfth, and A.M. Shahjahan (Minority Welfare) thirteenth. Vanni Arasu (Adi Dravidar Welfare, Social Justice) is fourteenth, and A. Vijay Tamilan Parthiban (Transport) is fifteenth.
P. Rajkumar (Housing, Urban Development) is sixteenth, V. Sampath Kumar (Backward Classes Welfare) seventeenth, M. Vijay Balaji (Handlooms, Textiles) eighteenth, K. Vignesh (Prohibition, Excise) nineteenth, and K. Thennarasu (Non-Resident Tamils Welfare) twentieth.
In the lower order, J. Mohamed Farwaz (Labour Welfare) is twenty-first, V. Gandhiraj (Cooperation) twenty-second, K. Jagadeeswari (Social Welfare, Women Empowerment) twenty-third, and Vinoth (Agriculture, Farmers Welfare) twenty-fourth.
C. Vijayalakshmi (Dairy Development) is twenty-fifth, T. Sarathkumar (Human Resource Management) twenty-sixth, Ramesh (Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments) twenty-seventh, and P. Madhan Raja (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) twenty-eighth.
At the end of the list, N. Mary Wilson (Finance, Planning) is twenty-ninth, Srinath (Fisheries) thirtieth, S. Kamali (Animal Husbandry) thirty-first, R. Kumar (Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology) thirty-second, R.V. Ranjithkumar (Forests) thirty-third, T. Lokesh Tamilselvan (Commercial Taxes, Registration) thirty-fourth, and Rajeev (Environment, Climate Change) thirty-fifth.
Officials said the seniority list will determine protocol order at official events and administrative hierarchy within the cabinet.