Providing 100 per cent Reservation in Favour of Teachers of Scheduled Districts Compromises Education Quality – SC

Case: Satyajit Kumar and ors vs State of Jharkhand and ors

Bench: A Bench of Justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna

The Top Court recently held that providing 100 percent reservation in favor of teachers of scheduled districts is unconstitutional and compromises education quality. The bench, therefore, upheld a 2020 decision of the Jharkhand High Court, striking down notifications issued by the State government of Jharkhand in 2016, providing 100% reservation for the local candidates of thirteen Scheduled Areas in the State.

Despite rejecting the State's request to apply the judgment under challenge prospectively, the SC noted that setting aside appointments already made would be a complicated exercise not in line with the larger public interest. It, accordingly molded the relief sought by the appellant-teachers, stating," .... If appointments already made are not protected, thousands of schools in Jharkhand will be without teachers, and the ultimate losers will be tribal children ... The Court must strike a balance between the rights of the original writ petitioners and the rights of persons/teachers already appointed, as well as the public interest..."

The HC ruling was, thus, modified to the length that instead of initiating a fresh recruitment procedure, the State was directed to prepare a revised merit list based on the published cutoffs as per marks obtained by the last elected candidate in each Trained Graduate Teachers (TGT) subject.

BACKGROUND

The Jharkhand HC, in September 2020, quashed the appointment of over 2,400 TGT teachers in Government schools of scheduled districts in Jharkhand, made pursuant to a 2016 published advertisement.

The ruling came in response to a petition filed by individuals who complained that they could not be appointed in the schools in 13 scheduled districts in Jharkhand because they were not residents of those districts.

The HC found that the challenged notification grants 100% reservation to the residents of the scheduled districts, while totally neglecting the fundamental rights of citizens residing outside the districts.

The HC held that such reservation was not allowed under the Constitution, as the outer limit was 50%, as specified in Indra Sawhney's case. Hence, the candidates belonging to the 13 scheduled districts, preferred an appeal before the Apex Court.