The Jabalpur Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has granted relief to meritorious candidates involved in the 2018 teacher recruitment process, directing the state government to give eligible teachers another opportunity to fill their preferred school choices. The court has ordered that the process be completed within two months, after which postings will be made on the basis of merit.

The ruling came in a batch of 54 appeals filed by teachers, including Seoni middle-school teacher Sakshi Tamrakar, who challenged aspects of the posting process. The petitioners alleged that candidates with higher merit scores were denied the opportunity to select preferred schools, while some candidates with lower scores were allotted schools of their choice.

A division bench comprising Justice Anand Pathak and Justice B P Sharma heard the matter and held that changes introduced after the recruitment process had begun could not adversely affect the rights of candidates. The court directed the state to provide meritorious candidates already posted under the Tribal Affairs Department an opportunity to participate in school choice filling under the School Education Department.

Dispute Linked to 2018 Recruitment

The matter dates back to the joint teacher recruitment process conducted in 2018 on the basis of the Teacher Eligibility Test for the School Education and Tribal Affairs departments.

According to the petitioners, several candidates from reserved categories had secured marks higher than candidates in the general category. Based on their merit, these candidates were appointed to schools under the Tribal Affairs Department.

However, subsequent directions issued in November and December 2022 reportedly prevented teachers who had already joined one department from participating in counselling and choice filling for available vacancies.

The petitioners argued that these later instructions altered the original recruitment process and deprived higher-merit candidates of an opportunity to choose schools according to their preferences.

Sakshi Tamrakar Case Highlighted

During the hearing, advocates Prashant Kumar Badarya, Anshuman Singh and Amit Kumar Chaturvedi represented the petitioners. The case of Sakshi Tamrakar was specifically highlighted before the court.

According to the petitioners, Tamrakar had completed document verification and her name had also appeared on the choice list. However, after she received an appointment letter from the Tribal Affairs Department, she was denied an opportunity to participate in the subsequent choice-filling process.

Two-Month Deadline for Choice Filling

The High Court has now directed the state government to provide the concerned meritorious candidates an opportunity to submit their school preferences within two months.

Their subsequent postings will be determined according to their merit and the applicable choice-filling policy.

The court also addressed the possible impact on teachers who are already working but may have lower merit. If such teachers are affected by the revised process, the state has been directed to accommodate them against available vacancies in the concerned department or another department.

The ruling is expected to provide relief to candidates involved in the long-running teacher recruitment dispute. It also reinforces the principle that the basic terms of a recruitment process and the rights flowing from them cannot be altered retrospectively in a manner that disadvantages candidates after the selection process has already commenced.