UP: Yogi Government Mulls Options After Allahabad HC Directs Fresh Selection List For 69,000 Assistant Teachers

The Allahabad High Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to draft a fresh selection list for the appointment of 69,000 assistant teachers in the state.

The selection lists released in June 2020 and January 2022, which included 6,800 candidates, have been set aside by the court.

The bench, comprising Justice A R Masoodi and Justice Brijraj Singh, issued the order while disposing 90 special appeals, filed by Mahendra Pal and others, contesting a single-judge ruling from 13 March last year.

The latest order was uploaded on the court's website on Friday (16 August), PTI reported.

To minimise disruption in education, the court directed that existing assistant teachers should be allowed to finish the ongoing academic session as part of the process to draft the new selection list, aiming to lessen any negative effects on these teachers.

Additionally, the bench revised the earlier order, stating that reserved category candidates who qualify under the general category merit should be migrated to that category.

In addition, the benefit of vertical reservation should also be extended to horizontal reservation categories, it said.

The court upheld the single-judge's decision to cancel the 5 January 2022 selection list of 6,800 candidates belonging to the reserved category.

The state government and relevant authorities were directed by the bench to finalise the process of new selection list within a span of three months.

The appellants contested the single-judge’s decision, arguing that the reservation provided by the state in selecting 69,000 teachers was not accurate, and questioned the validity of the appointment of the 6,800 teachers.

The single-judge had previously ruled that candidates who availed of reservations during the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) should not be considered under the unreserved category, even if they scored the cut-off marks for the general category.

However, the current bench clarified that if such candidates meet the merit requirements, they should be migrated to the general category.

Meanwhile, Chief minister Yogi Adityanath is likely to discuss and take a call today (18 August) about his government’s future course of action on the the directive of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad HC regarding the teacher's recruitment.

The state government is studying the high court order and its fallout.

It is likely to work out ways to ensure that the implementation of the high court order does not cause any harm to anybody, Hindustan Times reported.

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