Revised seniority list serving as a stumbling block to filling of posts

TRICHY: The incumbent district library officer (DLO) Shiva Kumar is one of the six DLOs who have been ordered to be demoted as they were temporarily promoted on the basis of district seniority. But, this has only added to the existing woes of running the library effectively. Interestingly, the fact that the second-in-command P Selvaraj, the district central librarian, who is 10 years senior and also grade-I librarian has to report to Kumar has vitiated the atmosphere further.
Six district librarians who had been promoted temporarily on the basis of district seniority were to be reassessed, and a revised seniority list was promulgated following a Madras high court order on December 6, 2010. The librarians to be reassessed were Matheswaran, Kesavan, Manikandan, Shiva Kumar, Nagarajan and Asohan. The director of public libraries was advised to demote the six according to the revised seniority list.
Of these, Kesavan and Nagarajan who had joined duty in 1976 and 1973 respectively had retired. In the meantime, Nagarajan had opted for voluntary retirement. Kesavan and Kumar had managed to get interim orders against the implementation of the revised seniority list that would have demoted them. As such, Matheswaran, Manikandan, and Asohan were ordered to be demoted in October, 2012.
Because of this legal wrangling, the crucial posts of 16 district library officers, 35 district central librarians, or inspector of librarians (same cadre) and 55 posts of grade II librarians could not be filled in the state. Even the post of the director of public libraries is vacant and the director of school education V C Rameshwara Murugan is holding additional charge.
To make matters further worse, the Trichy district library has decided to open the "periodicals section" of the library between 8 and 10pm from March 11 to April 25 to help those students who might appear for Group II exams of TNPSC, slated to be held in May this year. "If I have to remain in the office until 10pm, when could I reach my house?" asked P Selvaraj. "My own daughter is readying to write the Class 10 exams and I have travel a distance of 50 km every day," he rued. While the move is hailed by one and all to help the aspiring students, the lack of adequate staff strength has demoralized the existing staff. When asked about the revised seniority list that is serving as a stumbling block to the filling of posts, the DLO Shiv Kumar told TOI on Thursday morning, "It is an internal matter," and quickly requested the correspondent not to report it in the paper.