69000 Shikshak Bharti: UP Assistant Teachers get big relief from SC, but not 100%! Understand the complete chronology

The Supreme Court has stayed the order of the Allahabad High Court, which asked to issue a new merit list for the recruitment of 69 thousand assistant teachers in UP. During the hearing on Monday, the bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that it will examine the decision of the Allahabad High Court. It will issue an order after examining the legal aspects.

General category candidates Ravi Kumar Saxena and 51 others had filed a petition in the apex court against the decision of the Allahabad High Court. While hearing the petition of the petitioners, the Supreme Court said that it will examine the matter and during this time the order of the High Court will remain suspended. Along with this, the apex court also stayed the order of the High Court regarding cancellation of the selection lists of teachers released in June 2020 and January 2022.

The court has issued notice to the UP government and other respondents. The next hearing will be held on September 23. The Supreme Court has asked the parties to submit their written arguments in a maximum of seven pages. The court has also appointed two lawyers as nodal in the case and has asked the state government to file its reply.

When and what happened

• December 5, 2018: Notification for the recruitment of 69 thousand assistant teachers was issued. (4.31 lakh candidates applied for these posts.)
• January 6, 2019: The recruitment examination was held in which 4.10 lakh candidates participated.
• 12 May 2020: UP 69000 teacher recruitment result declared. 1.47 lakh candidates passed. The cutoff for general category was 67.11% and the cutoff for OBC was 66.73%.
• May 2020: A petition was filed in a single bench of the High Court alleging non-compliance of reservation rules.
• March 13, 2023: The single bench asked for reconsideration of the merit list. But also made some comments regarding the rules of reservation.

(The single bench of HC had said- It is right to keep the candidates who have taken advantage of reservation in the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) in the unreserved category if they get equal or more marks than the general category cut off. Because- TET only makes the candidate eligible to participate in the Assistant Teacher Recruitment Exam. The bench had also said that the candidates who have taken advantage of reservation in the UP Assistant Teacher Recruitment Exam cannot be kept in the unreserved category. The candidates appealed to the double bench against this decision of the court.

• 13 August 2024: The double bench of the High Court cancelled the decision of the single bench and ordered to issue a new merit list following the rules of reservation. By this time teachers had also been deployed. The double bench also clarified the status of the quota. (The double bench of HC had said- If the reserved category candidate comes in the merit list set for the general category, he/she will be migrated to the general category. Apart from this, it has also been clarified that the benefit of vertical reservation should also be given to the candidates with horizontal reservation.)

What is vertical and horizontal quota

According to the current rules, state governments provide 27% reservation to backward classes (OBC), 2% to scheduled tribes (ST) and 21% to scheduled castes (SC) in government jobs. This is vertical quota. Now suppose a candidate belongs to ST category and is also disabled. Disabled people get 4% quota. In such a case, this quota will be given to him/her from the ST category seats only. This will be called horizontal quota.