Allahabad High Court denies EWS quota for recruitment of 69,000 assistant teachers

NEW DELHI: The Allahabad High Court has refused to extend the benefit of reservation under the EWS category for the recruitment of 69,000 assistant teachers held in 2020 as the recruitment process was initiated before the enactment of the law in this regard. The state enacted the Uttar Pradesh Public Services (Reservation for EWS) Act, 2020, published in the Gazette on August 31, 2020, for implementation of reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) of society.

The Section 13 of the Act provides that the EWS Act shall not be applicable to selection processes that have been initiated before the commencement of the Act. Dismissing a bunch of writ petitions filed by Shivam Pandey and others, Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery observed that process of appointment of 69,000 assistant teachers in UP started from May 16, 2020, before the enactment of the EWS Act i.e. on August 31, 2020.

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Therefore, as per savings clause (Section 13), provisions of this Act would not be applicable and it would be governed by provisions of law and government order as they stood before the commencement of this Act, the court said in a recent order. In December 2018, the state government issued an order to conduct the assistant teacher recruitment examination, 2019. All petitioners stood qualified in the unreserved (general) category.

Subsequently, the government initiated the process of selection of 69,000 assistant teachers for appointment in primary schools in the state. However, pursuant to the 103rd amendment in the Constitution of India, the petitioners obtained their EWS certificates seeking 10 per cent reservation in the recruitment process. During the pendency of the writ petitions, the selection process was completed and the petitioners were not selected as they were placed lower in merit.