In a significant development, the Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow bench has mandated the reformation of the selection lists for the 69,000 Assistant Teacher recruitment exam, placing the jobs of hundreds of teachers at risk. This decision was announced on Friday, revising earlier results published on June 1, 2020, and January 5, 2022, which impacted approximately 6,800 candidates.
The court’s directive also modifies a previous ruling from March 13, 2023, by a single-judge bench, introducing a new framework for the merit-based migration of reserved category candidates to the general category if they meet the general merit criteria. This ruling underscores a significant shift in the interpretation of reservation benefits in the teacher eligibility tests.
Furthermore, the court has instructed that vertical reservations should also apply to horizontal ones, ensuring a broader scope of equity in recruitment. The decision came as a part of hearings on 90 special appeals challenging the single-judge bench’s decision, which had initially dismissed the selection list of 6,800 candidates from January 2022.
The bench, consisting of Justices A.R. Masoodi and Brijraj Singh, highlighted the need to adhere strictly to Section 3(6) of the Reservation Act and Appendix-One of the Service Rules, 1981, in crafting the new list. This is to ensure that the teaching standards and student learning are not adversely affected during this transition.
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The court also granted a three-month period to complete the issuance of the new selection list, emphasizing that the adjustments should not disrupt the education of students currently taught by the affected candidates.
