The Supreme Court bench of Justice UU lalit and Justice MM Shantanagoudarupheld that the UP government’s decision about increasing cut-off marks for 2019 recruitment of 69,000 Shiksha Mitras (assistant teachers) to 65 and 60 for the general and reserved categories respectively.
The SC further confirmed the Allahabad High Court judgment in this regard and dismissed the appeals filed by Uttar Pradesh Prathmik Shiksha Mitra Association allowing to the UP government to fill the 37,000 Shiksha Mitra vacancies in terms of the results of the recruitment exam announced in May 2020.
The SC however held that the aggrieved Shiksha Mitras will be given another opportunity to compete in the recruitment examination and left the modalities to be decided by the state Government.
The Uttar Pradesh Prathmik Shiksha Mitra Association had assailed the UP government’s order of January 7, 2019, by which the qualifying marks for the Assistant Teacher Recruitment Examination of 2019 were increased to 65 and 60 for the general and reserved categories respectively.
The notification regard to increment of marks was made a day after the exam for the same was held. The petitioners in the case said that the qualifying marks at 60 and 65 arbitrary and that should have been fixed at 45 and 40. They also said that the qualifying marks in earlier exam as 45 and 40 and also that the marks shall be decided prior to exam unlike 2019. Senior Advocate PS Patwalia ho was appearing for petitioners said that had submitted that the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) qualified Shiksha Mitras constituted a separate homogeneous class.
