HC scraps teachers’ selection
- Over 8000 names nixed as state altered test norms midway
Ranchi, Nov. 22: Jharkhand High Court today scrapped the appointment of 8,042 government primary school teachers, terming the eligibility test conducted by Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) in July to screen candidates arbitrary and illegal.
The order of the division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Tatia and Justice P.P. Bhatt means schools will have to wait for teachers longer, as 18,208 posts of teachers (primary and Urdu) have been lying vacant since 2008.
A petition was filed by Anjuman Tarique-e-Urdu, an outfit for promotion of Urdu, challenging the appointment of the candidates, who were due to get their letters from the state government on Statehood Day on November 15.
The high court had earlier stayed the handing of appointment letters.
The government had put the onus on JAC for conducting Teachers’ Eligibility Tests (TET) after JPSC, that was conducting the tests earlier, was mired in scams and myriad controversies.
The bench heard the matter for three consecutive days and passed a detailed verdict today after it sat till late evening. It expressed sympathy with the selected candidates, but argued that their appointment could not be recognised, as the procedure was wrong.
JAC, which had issued an advertisement for appointment of 18,201 assistant teachers, including 32 Urdu teachers, was to conduct a preliminary as well as a main exam. But, ultimately the main exams weren’t held.
Arguing on behalf of Anjuman Tarique-e-Urdu, advocate Manoj Tandon said JAC had issued the advertisement in March and the exams were held in July while the results were declared on October 14.
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The petitioners’ counsel iterated that the advertisement initially issued by JAC had stated that the candidates would be selected on the basis of a preliminary test followed by a main exam.
“The government, after declaring the result of the preliminary exams, changed the criterion mentioned in the advertisement by deciding not to hold the main exam. This is arbitrary and cannot be allowed,” the advocate argued.
News : The Telegraph ( 23.11.11)