Hearing of 69,000 assistant teacher recruitment case postponed, debate could not take place in Supreme Court

The legal dispute related to the much talked about 69,000 assistant teacher recruitment case in Uttar Pradesh has once again escalated. This matter on Tuesday Supreme Court It was listed, but due to lack of time it could not be heard. Now the next hearing of this case will be on February 4. The hearing of the case is proposed before the bench of Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice Augustine George Masih.

This matter pertains to the recruitment of 69,000 assistant teachers in the year 2018. The division bench of Allahabad High Court had canceled the merit list of this recruitment process on 13 August 2024 and ordered to prepare a new merit list within three months. This decision of the High Court has been challenged in the Supreme Court by those general category candidates who have already been appointed. The Supreme Court, while issuing notice on the petitions during the preliminary hearing, had put an interim stay on the High Court order.

Meanwhile, reserved category candidates have also supported the High Court’s decision by filing intervention applications and demanded removal of the interim stay. The reserved category says that rules have been violated in the recruitment process and the decision of the High Court is justified. This entire controversy has now reached a turning point in the Supreme Court in the form of Teacher Recruitment Case.

According to the recruitment rules, the cutoff for Assistant Teacher Recruitment Examination (ATRE) was fixed at 65 percent marks for general category and 60 percent marks for reserved category. Apart from this, 40 percent additional marks were added to the average marks of high school, intermediate, graduation and BTC. Controversy arose when the total marks of some reserved category candidates were found to be more than the merit of the general category and a demand was made to include them in the general category.

In the last hearing, it was argued on behalf of the general category that a candidate who has taken the benefit of lower cutoff cannot later claim to join the general category on the basis of more marks. Whereas the reserved category justified the order of the High Court, calling it a violation of the reservation rules. At present, the eyes of all the parties are fixed on the next hearing on this recruitment dispute (Teacher Recruitment Case) in the Supreme Court.