Chennai, Sept 9:
The Tamil Nadu government has moved to bring recruitment to all 649 urban local bodies under a common selection system by empowering the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) to conduct appointments to posts in corporations, municipalities and town panchayats across the State.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday passed a Bill seeking to amend the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (Additional Functions) Act, 2022, paving the way for TNPSC to undertake recruitment for 25 municipal corporations, 145 municipalities and 479 town panchayats.
At present, recruitment to urban local bodies is carried out through different mechanisms depending on the post and service. Recruitment powers are distributed among the Directorate of Municipal Administration, municipal commissioners and various local selection and appointment committees.
The proposed amendment seeks to replace this fragmented system with a common TNPSC-led recruitment mechanism. Once the Bill receives the Governor’s assent, the government will be able to entrust TNPSC with recruitment for various posts in the Greater Chennai Corporation and other urban local bodies.
Human Resources Minister D Sarathkumar said the move was aimed at ensuring a more uniform, efficient, professional and transparent recruitment process.
He said the common recruitment mechanism would also benefit job aspirants from rural and remote parts of Tamil Nadu by providing them with a single and transparent avenue to apply for posts in urban local bodies.
The government has decided to expand the scope of the 2022 Act, which assigned additional functions to TNPSC, to cover recruitment to posts under urban local bodies.
The move is expected to standardise recruitment procedures and reduce variations in the selection process followed by individual local bodies. It could also bring a larger number of municipal employment opportunities under the competitive examination and recruitment framework of TNPSC.