After nearly seven months, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi finally approved the appointment of five new members to the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) on February 16. The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government had submitted recommendations for appointing members and a chairperson for the TNPSC seven months ago to the governor but the file was returned by the governor’s office in August 2023. Although five new members have now been appointed, the post of chairperson remains vacant.

Through a Government Order (GO), it was announced that retired IAS officer MP Sivanarul, IRS officer R Saravanakumar, Dr A Thavamani, Economist Usha Sukumar and R Premkumar will be the new members of the TNPSC, for a tenure of six years or until they turn 62 years of age – whichever is earlier. The strength of the commission has risen from five to ten with the appointment of the new officers. Retired IAS officer Dr C Munianathan has been serving as the acting chairperson since February 2022. However, there are five more vacancies to fill, including that of the chairperson.

According to media reports, the DMK’s recommendation to appoint retired Director General of Police (DGP) C Sylendra Babu as the chairperson was rejected citing his age as a deterring factor. It may be noted that the upper age limit for a TNPSC chairperson is 62 years and Sylendra Babu is 61 years old.

In June 2024, around 10 lakh aspirants are expected to appear for Group IV examinations. There are also over 15,000 vacancies to be filled for the year 2024-2025 and the promotions and demotions of over 20,000 government officials are to be handled by the commission in the coming months.