CHENNAI, INDIA, February 1, 2011: The Madras high court has struck down the Tamil Nadu government’s move to provide ‘blanket reservation’ to Hindus for certain posts in its archaeology department. The state’s stand was that Hindu candidates alone were eligible to apply for posts of epigraphist, archaeological officer and curator.
Justice Chandru, describing it as ‘blatant discrimination,’ directed the authorities to consider the candidature of a Muslim applicant. ‘When authorities called for applications for the posts of archaeologists of epigraphists, they ought not to have made blanket reservation in these posts for candidates belonging to the Hindu religion alone.’