CHENNAI: At a time when several lakh qualified youngsters remain unemployed and await govt job openings, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has appointed a Rajendiran, aged 74, as its ‘librarian’ with a salary of not less than Rs 1 lakh. The TNPCB library has about 11,000 books on topics ranging from policies, pollution, disasters and the environment.He is not alone. TNPCB has appointed three more people, aged 64-65 years, in different capacities.Tamilarasan, 64, who had retired from prohibition and excise department, Sampath, 65, who retired from home department, and Narayanan, 65, who superannuated in finance department, have all been recently hired by TNPCB. These ‘officials’ are now earning their last drawn salary, of course minus pension.When contacted, TNPCB chairperson M Jayanthi said: “Youngsters are not willing to come to these departments, nor do they have the expertise to handle this. Finance is a major department. We can only appoint seniors in that. So, a senior retired officer from the finance department was posted here. Similarly, it is a tough task to manage a library, and the 74-year-old is an experienced librarian. They are doing their job well.”“We asked the govt for postings, and all these four staff members were recommended by the Secretariat. We do recruit youngsters, but they have not yet attained the necessary experience,” she said.These late-stage appointments have drawn criticism from govt employees and secretariat staff associations, who say TNPSC should recruit fresh candidates and promote and train their mid-level staff with the necessary expertise.G Venkadesan, president of the Tamil Nadu Secretariat Association, condemned govt departments for infinite extensions, and said: “Seniors who retire get extensions and then continue to occupy the top roles and call the shots, drawing their last drawn salary.” It is the duty of the departments to ensure knowledge-sharing, train youngsters and mid-level staff for the higher positions.The association also wrote to chief minister M K Stalin on March 11, condemning the state special projects implementation department for floating newspaper advertisements to hire retired officials, with tailor-made requirements such as ‘a deputy secretary rank officer who had worked in the secretariat’.Such late-stage recruitments violate the 69% reservation rule too. M Anbarasu, former president of JATCO-GEO, said the govt should hire fresh recruits through TNPSC and train the mid-level officers for posts with bigger responsibilities. “Re-appointing retired officials will deny govt jobs to youths,” he said.