Supreme Court issues notice to T.N. on teachers’ appointment

The petitioners allege that the criteria for selection were changed after the process started

November 12, 2014 02:15 am | Updated 02:15 am IST - NEW DELHI:

The Supreme Court on Monday made it clear to the Tamil Nadu government that its appointment of 6,000 teachers till date by revising the norms would be subject to the outcome of an appeal.

A Bench of Justices Ibrahim Kalifulla and A.M. Sapre passed the order, issuing notice to the State on special leave petitions filed by Lavanya and others, challenging two conflicting judgments of the Madras High Court.

Conflicting verdicts

While the Madurai Bench quashed the G.O by which the government altered the criteria, the principal seat upheld it. Hence, an authoritative pronouncement was required from the Supreme Court, the petitioners said.

Test and weightage marks

The petitioners said they had written the Teacher Eligibility Test conducted by the Teachers Recruitment Board on August 18, 2013, and secured pass marks under the criteria fixed by the Board. They were also awarded weightage marks based on the academic qualification as per the criteria set forth in the G.O. dated October 5, 2012. They subsequently took part in the selection for the post of BT Assistant, and they were called to attend certificate verification conducted on January 23 and 24 this year.

The government issued orders, dated February 6, 2014, granting relaxation of 5 per cent of marks to the candidates belonging to the SC/ST, BC, MBC, BCM, de-notified communities and persons with disability, reducing the pass marks to 55 per cent from 60 per cent. This was sought to be applied to candidates who wrote the test on August 18, 2013. About 6,000 teachers had been appointed so far. The petitioners were aggrieved by the change in the criteria after the selection started, and wanted the appointment quashed.

The Bench directed that the mater be listed after six weeks.

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