Assistant professor aspirants criticise T.N. government for selective distribution of appointment letters

The Tamil Nadu government’s act of distributing appointment orders to 11 assistant professors for government arts and science colleges from among those who appeared for the recruitment examination in December 2025 has caused consternation among fellow aspirants.

A section of the aspirants has claimed that this would hamper the seniority of all other candidates who would join after them, although they appeared for the same recruitment examination.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday distributed appointment letters to 11 assistant professors – four for Wildlife Biology, three for Indian Culture and Tourism, two for Marine Biology, and one each for History Education and Human Rights. The Teachers’ Recruitment Board (TRB) had announced the certificate verification and interview of shortlisted candidates for these subjects on March 23 and 24, which was advanced to March 11 and 12 through a notification on March 4.

“This is likely to have an impact on not only their promotions, remuneration, and other benefits, but also on appointments to senior posts like college principal or regional joint directors in subsequent years,” said V. Thangaraj, State president, Tamil Nadu All Government College UGC Qualified Guest Lecturers’ Association.

“When the process of evaluation of the answer sheets is still on, what was the hurry for distributing appointment letters to only a few?” Mr. Thangaraj questions.

Critics of the decision claim with elections looming, the government wanted to add a feather to its cap, especially because this was the first time in the last 10 years that direct recruitment to college faculty positions was taking place.

While acknowledging such token disbursement of appointment orders was rare, officials said they were working out modalities so as to not affect seniority of any candidate. This could take some doing since it would be difficult to find a precedent.

As things stand, answer sheets for the rest of the 43 subjects are being evaluated. The exam, held on December 27, 2025 had two sessions – a multiple choice pattern in the morning and a descriptive type in the afternoon. As many as 42,064 candidates had appeared for it.