New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (September 9) stayed an order of the Allahabad High Court directing the Uttar Pradesh government to prepare a fresh selection list for the appointment of 69,000 assistant teachers in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, while staying the High Court order, issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and others.
Stay order came on a plea by selected general category candidates
The top court’s directions came on a plea filed by Ravi Kumar Saxena and 51 others (selected general category candidates) challenging the order of the High Court. Hearing the matter, the bench directed the counsels of the parties to file a short written notes.
The apex court said that it would fix the hearing on the plea in the week commencing September 23.
The order by a division bench of the High Court had come on 90 special appeals challenging a March 13, 2023 order of the single bench of the High Court.
Bunch of pleas before High Court division bench raised questions of law
The bunch of appeals before the division bench of the High Court raised the question of law as to whether the marks obtained from the open competition on the result of Assistant Teachers Recruitment Examination (ATRE) based on 2019 examination alone or the marks derived on the basis of the entire process i.e. ATRE-2019 coupled with other criteria of educational and training record would be decisive to serve the real object of section 3(6) of the Uttar Pradesh Public Services (Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Act, 1994.
What did the High Court say?
Disposing of the pleas, the division bench of the High Court directed the state government/ concerned authorities to prepare a select list of 69,000 candidates for appointment as assistant teachers on the basis of ATRE-19 to the Service Rules, 1981 afresh, ignoring the select lists dated June 1, 2020 and January 5, 2022 and directed the authorities to carry out the entire exercise in terms of this judgment within a period of three months.
“After preparation of select list in terms of quality points enumerated in Rule 14 of Service Rules, 1981, reservation policy be adopted as envisaged under Section 3 (6) of Reservation Act, 1994,” the High Court further said and added, “If a reserved category candidate acquires merit equivalent to the merit prescribed for the general category, then Meritorious Reserved Category candidate shall be migrated to the general category as per the provisions contained in Section 3 (6) of the Reservation Act, 1994.”
The High Court further said that if any one of the working candidates is affected by the action of the state Government/competent authority while preparing the fresh select lists for appointment, they shall be given the session benefit so that the students may not suffer.
