Section 21 in Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act, 2016
21. Linguistic qualification.
(1)No person shall be eligible for appointment to any service by direct recruitment unless he has an adequate knowledge of the official language of the State, namely, Tamil:Provided that a person, being otherwise qualified for appointment to the post to which recruitment is to be made, may apply for recruitment to the post, despite the fact that, at the time of such application, he does not possess an adequate knowledge of Tamil.Explanation. - For the purpose of this section, a person shall be deemed to have an adequate knowledge of Tamil, if-(i)in the case of a post for which the educational qualification prescribed is the minimum general educational qualification and above, he has passed the S.S.L.C. Examination or its equivalent examination with Tamil as one of the languages; or Studied the High School Course in Tamil medium and passed the S.S.L.C. Examination or its equivalent examination in Tamil medium; or passed the Second Class Language Test in Tamil conducted by the Commission;(ii)in the case of a post for which the educational qualification prescribed is VIII Standard and above, but below S.S.L.C., he has studied in Tamil medium in those standards or passed the Language Test in Tamil referred to in sub-section (1) of section 22; and(iii)in the case of a post for which the educational qualification prescribed is below VIII Standard, he has studied in Tamil medium in those standards or passed the oral test in Tamil referred to in sub-section (2) of section 22.(2)Every such candidate as is referred to in the proviso to sub-section (1) shall, if selected and appointed on or after the 9th February 1996, pass the Second Class Language Test in Tamil conducted by the Commission, or pass the language Test in Tamil referred to in sub-section (1) of section 22 conducted by the appointing authority or pass the oral test referred to in sub-section (2) of section 22 conducted by the appointing authority, as the case may be, within a period of two years from the date of his appointment. If he fails to pass the said Language Test within the said period of two years, he shall be discharged from service.(3)The syllabus for the Second Class Language Test in Tamil referred to in this section shall be as specified in Schedule-IV.
