The Tamil Nadu government promoted seven IAS officers without the Centre’s approval, the Union Ministry told the Madras High Court

Tamil Nadu Secretariat. File | Photo credit: The Hindu

The Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions on Wednesday (June 10, 2026) told the Madras High Court that the Tamil Nadu government has promoted seven Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers of the 1995 batch to the grade of Chief Secretary without the Centre’s approval.

Appearing before First Division Judge Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) AR.L. Sundaresan said the Center would initiate necessary steps with regard to the promotion of seven IAS officers without his approval.

The submissions were made just before the Bench dismissed a Public Interest Litigation challenging the Government Order (GO) issued on December 24, 2025 to promote seven officers, including former Finance Minister T Udhayachandran, to the rank of Chief Secretary.

The ASG, representing the Union ministry as well as the Cabinet Secretary, said, “The Government of Tamil Nadu has requested the Government of India but we have not given consent. Whatever action we have to take, we will take it independently irrespective of the outcome of this PIL petition.”

The PIL was filed by Chennai-based advocate M. Balakrishnan. When the judges wanted to know how a PIL could be heard in a matter related to the civil service, the petitioner’s counsel replied that in exceptional cases like this it could be disposed of.

The counsel said that it has become customary for the state government to promote IAS officers without the Centre’s approval, although the rules applicable to the All India Service require state governments to do so only in consultation with the Center as the promotion leads to payment of higher salaries.

Unconvinced by the arguments presented by counsel on the merits of the case, instead of convincing the court of the maintainability of the plea, the judges said that a public interest litigation filed at the instance of a third party cannot be heard in a civil service matter and that only officers who have been aggrieved by promotion can file the case if they so desire.

After taking on file the list of Supreme Court judgments on the issue submitted by Advocate General Vijay Narayan, the Chief Justice said that his bench would pass a detailed order with detailed reasons for rejecting the PIL challenging the GO 2025.

The GO was issued for the promotion of IAS officers MA Siddique, R. Jaya, P. Senthilkumar, Sandhya Venugopal Sharma, Mr. Udhayachandran, Hitesh Kumar S. Makwana and B. Chandra Mohan to the grade of IAS Principal Secretary with effect from January 1, 2026.

At the time of its release, Mr. Siddique was serving as the Managing Director of Chennai Metro Rail Limited, Ms. Jaya was in the Department of Economics and Statistics, Mr. Senthilkumar was the Minister of Health, Ms. Sharma was the Chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, Mr. Udhayachandran was the Secretary General of Finance India and Mr. Makputanya was the Secretary General of India. Mohan was the school secretary for education.

The GO sanctioned the creation of temporary posts of Additional Chief Secretary in the Departments of Economics and Statistics, Health and Family Welfare and School Education so that Ms. Jaya, Mr. Senthilkumar and Mr. Mohan could continue to hold these posts at that time. It was also stated that Mr Makwana would be promoted to the cadre of Chief Secretary without prejudice to his central delegation.

Published – 10 June 2026 20:35 IST