Chennai: As hundreds of dismissed Tamil Nadu government employees thronged the Madras High Court, expecting a verdict in their favour, state government continued its much publicised recruitment drive while the employees strike in support of their demands entered the seventh day on July 8.

However, the arguments by advocates for the employees associations and Advocate General N R Chandran before a division bench comprising Chief Justice B Subashan Reddy and Justice K Govindaraj on a batch of petitions challenging the government action remained inconclusive for the second day and would continue on July 9.

State government officials, who had inducted over 200 employees till July 7 to replace the dismissed secretariat staff, on July 8, recruited 80 more, official sources said.

Plans to recruit to 1,000 people ran into rough weather due to non-availability of qualified hands. The recruitment would continue on July 9 also, they said. The government had dismissed over three lakh employees for participation in the strike, demanding restoration of curtailed benefits.

The recruitment drive in the districts too continued and but exact number was not immediately available, they said adding the freshers had started reporting for duty from July 8.

The federation of joint action council of Tamil Nadu teachers and government employees associations and confederation of Tamil Nadu teachers and government employees organisations, spearheading the agitation, said it would decide on calling off the strike only after the court verdict.

Meanwhile, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) chief Vaiko, lodged in Vellore Prison, sent a telegram to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, seeking central intervention in the issue.

PTI