The judgment was delivered by a bench consisting of Justice A.R. Masoodi and Justice Brijraj Singh, following the 90 special appeals filed by Ashok Yadav and others.
Allahabad: The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has instructed the Uttar Pradesh government to issue a new list of selected candidates for the 69,000 assistant teacher positions recruited in 2019. This ruling set aside the selection lists published on June 1, 2020, and January 5, 2022, and requires the state to produce a revised list within three months in accordance with established rules.
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The court’s decision represents a major setback for the state government and raises concerns about the job security of teachers already appointed based on the previous lists.
The judgment was delivered by a bench consisting of Justice A.R. Masoodi and Justice Brijraj Singh, following the 90 special appeals filed by Ashok Yadav and others.
These appeals contested a single-judge bench’s March 13, 2023, decision regarding improper implementation of reservation quotas. The final verdict was announced last Tuesday and published on the High Court’s website on Friday.
The court mandated that the new selection list adhere to the 1981 Rules and the 1994 Reservation Act. It directed that candidates from reserved categories who scored equal to or higher than the general category cutoff be placed in the general category. If any currently employed candidate is affected by the revised list, the state government must ensure they receive compensation until the end of the academic session to minimize student disruption.
The court adjusted the single-judge bench’s earlier order to align with these new directives. The case highlighted issues related to reservation discrepancies in the recruitment process for 69,000 primary assistant teachers.
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Additionally, the court resolved all appeals related to the cancellation of the list for 6,800 candidates, as ordered on March 13, 2023, due to reservation discrepancies. The state was directed to review the entire list in light of these findings. Special appeals challenging this cancellation had been filed by some candidates.
Previously, the single-judge bench had instructed the state to revise the selection list within three months from June 1, 2020, and had annulled the list of 6,800 additional candidates from January 5, 2022, for not following proper procedures.
Petitioners argued that reservation rules were not correctly applied during the recruitment, leading to the exclusion of reserved category candidates who should have been placed in the general category if they scored above 65 percent.
This led to petitions from both reserved and general category candidates challenging the fairness of the selection lists.
In reaction to the court’s decision, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya criticized his own government but welcomed the ruling as a step toward social justice. He emphasized that the decision benefits candidates from backward and Dalit communities.
Similarly, Union Minister Anupriya Patel supported the court’s decision, expressing hope for justice for marginalized communities. Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav criticized the disruption caused to the education system under the BJP government.
