Section 16 in Tamil Nadu Town Panchayats (Establishment) Rules, 1988
16. Seniority. - The seniority of a person in a service, class or category or grade shall unless he has been reduced to a lower rank as a punishment, be determined by the rank obtained by him in the list of approved candidates drawn up by the appointing authority, subject to the rule of reservation where it applies, the date of commencement of his probation shall be the date on which he joins duty irrespective of his seniority.
The seniority of a person in a service, class, category or grade shall where the normal method of recruitment of that service, class, category or grade is not solely by direct recruitment or by recruitment by transfer and by promotion, unless the individual has been reduced to a lower rank as punishment, be determined with reference to the date on which he is appointed to the service, class, category or grade:Provided that, where the junior appointed by a particular method of recruitment happens to be appointed to a service, class, category or grade, earlier than the senior appointed by the same method of recruitment, the senior shall be deemed to have been appointed to the service, class, category or grade on the same day on which the junior was so appointed:Provided further that the benefit of the above proviso shall be available to the senior only for the purpose of fixing inter-se seniority:Provided also that there persons appointed by more than one method of recruitment are appointed or deemed to have been appointed to the service, class, category or grade on the same day, their inter-se seniority shall be decided with reference to their age.
