HC clears decks for hiring of 37,000 schoolteachers in Bihar, Legal News, ET LegalWorld – Legal Firms

Decks have been cleared for the appointment of more than 37,000 secondary and senior secondary teachers in Bihar as the Patna high court on Monday recalled its stay on the appointments. The court had passed the stay order two months back.

The division bench of Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice Sunil Datta Mishra, while hearing an “intra court” appeal filed by one Rakesh Kumar and others, recalled its earlier order of September 15, whereby the 6th phase selection process for secondary and senior secondary teachers were stayed.

The high court also clarified that the ensuing appointment of about 37,335 teachers for classes IX to XII in various government schools in Bihar, to be made by the chiefs of various district boards/urban local bodies (ULBs), would be subject to the final outcome of this appeal.

The matter relates to interpretations of the eligibility conditions stipulated for appointment of such teachers, wherein all aspirants who have qualified the teacher eligibility test (TET) of 2011, have to strictly get their 2-year BEd course completed within five years from the date of publication of said TET results.

The said TET was first held in 2011 and results were published in June 2012 as well as in 2013 for those districts where reexamination had taken place. These stipulations which were issued by the state government on July 1, 2019, were ambiguous enough to attract several litigations in the high court.

A single bench of Justice Ashutosh Kumar passed a comprehensive verdict in February this year and held that the said condition of five-year completion time for BEd course has to be strictly complied with. However, the bench, while interpreting those stipulations in light of recruitment rules framed for panchayat and ULB schoolteachers in 2006, held that there will be two different reckoning period for BEd degree completion.

The said judgement of single bench was challenged by the appellant before the two judges bench of high court through intra court appeal wherein the stay order was passed. State’s counsel Priyadarshi Matrisharan on Monday pressed an application for vacating the said stay order on ground of dearth of vacancy in high schools in Bihar. High court allowed the state’s petition and recalled its September 15 order which was creating legal hurdles in completion of the employment process and posted the matter for hearing after three weeks.