Why the selection of 69,000 assistant teachers in Uttar Pradesh has been ordered afresh

What is the Assistant Teachers Recruitment Examination for?

On December 5, 2018, the UP government issued an advertisement to recruit 69,000 assistant teachers in the state’s Basic Education Department.

The ATRE was held on January 5, 2019. Of the 4.31 lakh candidates who applied for the examination, 4.10 lakh appeared for it. The results were declared on May 12, 2020, where 1.46 lakh candidates had qualified. The cut-off was fixed at 67.11% for unreserved or general category candidates, 66.73% for Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates and 61.01% for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates.

On June 1, 2020, the Secretary of the Basic Education Board, Allahabad, delineated the recruitment process. Two lists of selected candidates — one dated October 11, 2020, for 31,277 candidates and another dated October 30, 2020, for 36,590 candidates — were then issued, totalling 67,867 of the 69,000 posts.

The remaining 1,133 posts for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates were shown as lying vacant due to the non-availability of candidates from the category.

What were the allegations of irregularities in recruitment?

The two lists came under scrutiny following allegations that they were published without declaring the candidates’ category-wise break-up of marks.

Further, it was alleged that unreserved category candidates formed more than 50% of the total candidates selected and that the reserved category candidates did not get their due representation. According to candidates who challenged the recruitment, OBC candidates were given 3.86% reservation against the mandated 27%, while SC candidates were represented in 16.2% of posts instead of 21%.

Since October 2020, candidates who took the exam have staged multiple protests over the exam process and had run-ins with the police at times. In 2021, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met a delegation of protesting students in Lucknow and directed the Basic Education Department officials to find a “swift and fair” solution.

Why did candidates approach the Allahabad High Court?

According to petitions filed by several candidates, the matter of selection lists being published without declaring category-wise details of the marks obtained by candidates was brought to court.

The matter of disproportionate representation was also mentioned. Additionally, it was alleged that the Meritorious Reserved Candidates (those from reserved categories who made the cut-off for the unreserved category) were placed in the reserved category instead of the general category. This was against Section 3(6) of the Reservation Act, 1994, which provides that reserved category candidates who score equal to general candidates are to be mandatorily selected/appointed on the unreserved vacancies.

During the hearing in the High Court, the state government filed several affidavits. It later issued a press statement admitting that the Reservation Act, 1994, could not be properly followed in this case. Therefore, it issued a fresh selection list on January 5, 2022, making 6,800 more appointments from amongst the reserved category candidates.

But in an order passed on March 13, 2023, a single-judge bench of the Allahabad HC set aside the earlier lists of selected candidates. The matter again reached the Allahabad High Court through several petitions on April 17, 2023, challenging the March 13 order.

What is the latest ruling and what are its implications?

A division bench of the Allahabad High Court, comprising Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi and Justice Brij Raj Singh, has directed the state government and concerned authorities to prepare a new list of 69,000 candidates for appointment.

They are to follow provisions of the U.P. Basic Education (Teachers) Service Rules, 1981, and the Uttar Pradesh Public Services (Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Act, 1994. The court directed them to carry out the exercise within three months.

The court also said that if any assistant teachers deployed based on earlier lists are affected by this action, they shall be allowed to continue their jobs through the current academic session so that the students may not suffer. However, the earlier lists are to be quashed. Essentially, it means that the recruitment process will be done afresh and that the teachers deployed based on earlier orders stand to lose their jobs.

Further, the court disposed of appeals filed against the March 2023 order from the single-judge bench, which set aside the previous lists.

What are the political implications?

Since the matter pertains to the reservation of OBC candidates, the issue is politically sensitive for the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government. OBCs constitute around 50 per cent of UP’s population. In the recent Lok Sabha elections, many OBC communities seemingly shifted their votes to the Opposition INDIA bloc.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday (August 18) said the Uttar Pradesh government firmly believed that the benefit of reservation should be extended to all reserved category candidates. He also said that it will be ensured that no candidate faces injustice. The CM directed the Basic Education Department to proceed according to the Allahabad High Court’s order.

During a meeting with officials of Basic Education Department, Adityanath said, “The government is of the clear opinion that the benefit of the reservation facility provided by the Constitution should be available to all the candidates of the reserved category and no injustice should be done to any candidate.”

“Adityanath then directed the department to proceed based on the observations made by the Supreme Court and the ruling by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court,” a government spokesperson said.

Opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, earlier made statements attacking the state government. Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday that the Allahabad HC’s decision was a befitting reply to the “conspiracies of the BJP government which is playing with the reservation system”.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said on Friday, “The 69000 teacher recruitment also proved to be a victim of BJP’s scam, fraud and corruption”.