Supreme Court Stays Allahabad HC Order on 69K Assistant Teacher Recruitment in UP

The Supreme Court today stayed the Allahabad High Court's direction to the Uttar Pradesh government to prepare a fresh list for recruiting 69,000 Assistant Teachers. The Supreme Court bench, headed by CJI DY Chandrachud and comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, issued a stay on the High Court's decision while issuing a notice in the matter.

The Allahabad High Court had earlier quashed merit lists released by the State on June 1, 2020, and January 5, 2022, ordering fresh lists to be prepared in compliance with the Uttar Pradesh Public Services (Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Act, 1994. The court held that reservation under Section 3(6) of the Act should apply at the stage of preparing the merit list. As per Section 3(6), reserved category candidates scoring equal to or higher than general category candidates should be placed in the general category.

The controversy centered around whether the Assistant Teachers Recruitment Examination (ATRE) was merely a qualifying exam or part of the selection process. Candidates from reserved categories argued that they were wrongly excluded from the general category despite scoring qualifying marks. The Supreme Court directed the stay on redrawing the recruitment lists while asking parties, including the UP government represented by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, to submit their arguments through appointed nodal counsels. The apex court is set to examine the implications of candidates' migration between reserved and general categories.

The case, Ravi Kumar Saxena v. State of U.P., has far-reaching implications on recruitment processes and reservation policies in the state. Further steps, including the redrawing of merit lists, are now halted until the final verdict.