MEM CTLR VOICED CONCERN REGARDING SUPVR DECISION TO RELEASE ILS DME TO MAINT DURING BUSY TFC PERIOD AND INACCURATE STATUS INFO.

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DUE TO HAZY CONDITIONS AT MEM ARPT; THE INBOUNDS THAT BEGIN AT APPROX XA00 LCL TIME WOULD BE ACCOMPLISHED WITH STAGGERED ILS APCHS TO RWYS 36L/R. IN OUR STATUS INFO AREA; THE DME FOR RWY 36R WAS LISTED AS OTS. I WAS WORKING THE E FINAL POS; VECTORING ACFT FOR RWY 36R AND ADVISING THEM OF THE OUTAGE. 2 CRJ2'S; ACFT X AND ACFT Y; ADVISED THEY COULD NOT ACCEPT THE APCH. ACFT X WAS VECTORED FOR THE ILS RWY 36L; AND ACFT Y WAS VECTORED FOR THE ILS RWY 27. LATER; AN A306 RPTED THEY WERE RECEIVING THE DME JUST FINE. I VERIFIED THAT THEY WERE RECEIVING THE ILS RWY 36R DME AND NOT THE MEM VOR DME. THEY SAID IT WAS INDEED THE ILS RWY 36R DME THEY WERE RECEIVING. I RPTED THAT THE DME WAS BEING RECEIVED TO SUPERVISION. AT THAT TIME; I WAS TOLD BY THE OPS MGR THAT MAINT WAS WORKING ON IT AND THE SIGNAL MAY BE UNRELIABLE. AT APPROX XB00 LCL TIME; THE DME WAS RPTED BACK IN SVC. 2 THINGS BOTHER ME. FIRST; IF WX CONDITIONS DICTATE THAT WE WILL USE ILS APCHS DURING AN INBOUND PUSH; WHY IS THE OP MGR GIVING MAINT A COMPONENT OF THAT APCH TO WORK ON? AT APPROX XC30-XD00 LCL TIME; WE ARE NO LONGER IN AN ARR PUSH; AND LETTING THE DME GO TO MAINT WOULD NOT HAVE NEARLY THE IMPACT. SECOND; WHY WAS THE STATUS OF THE DME LISTED AS OUT OF MAINT AND THE SIGNAL CONSIDERED UNRELIABLE? THIS INFO IS DIFFERENT THAN THE BLANKET OTS CALL THAT I GAVE THE PLTS. I DO NOT KNOW IF THE PLTS OF THE 2 CRJ2'S WOULD HAVE BEEN WILLING TO ATTEMPT THE APCHS; BUT AT LEAST THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MAKE THAT DECISION WITH THE MOST ACCURATE INFO.