New Delhi: In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court has directed Jammu and Kashmir administration to appoint within eight weeks the candidates empanelled under the now-defunct Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) scheme as teachers in the Union Territory.
Balancing rights of job aspirants with the constitutional mandate for quality education, a bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Atul S Chandurkar asked the UT administration to issue appointment orders to the candidates.
The verdict, however, mandated that the empanelled candidates will have to acquire minimum teaching qualifications, including clearing the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET), within a stipulated timeframe.
“The closure order of ReT Scheme dated November 16, 2018 for cancellation/withdrawal shall not retrospectively impair the right of the candidates found placed in the select panel. In view of the discussion…, the candidates placed in respective select panels shall be issued engagement/appointment orders as per their position in the select panel having regard to the available vacancies,” Justice Maheshwari, who authored the verdict, said.
The bench directed the UT administration to issue the formal appointment orders to the candidates of the select panel within a period of eight weeks.
The verdict, delivered on April 30, modified a 2023 judgement of the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court concerning the closure of the ReT scheme.
The ReT scheme was launched in 2000 to address teacher shortages in remote areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
However, on November 16, 2018, the government formally closed the scheme, cancelling all pending advertisements and panels where engagement orders had not yet been issued. This led to a batch of litigation by the candidates who were already in “select panels” but had not been formally appointed.
The UT administration said that after the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act and National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) regulations in J&K from October 2019, teachers must possess minimum qualifications, including clearing the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET), which many ReT candidates lacked.
The top court upheld the government’s right to close the scheme.
It, however, held that the closure could not “retrospectively impair” the rights of candidates already placed in select panels.
The bench directed the J&K administration to issue formal engagement orders to candidates in the respective select panels within eight weeks, based on available vacancies.
It said all new appointees, as well as existing ReT teachers appointed after August 23, 2010, who do not meet NCTE standards, must acquire the minimum qualifications and clear the TET within three years and three attempts.
It made it clear that if an appointee fails to clear the TET within the prescribed period/attempts, their appointment will stand automatically terminated, and the post will be extinguished.
Once candidates acquire the necessary qualifications, their seniority will be redrawn and determined based on their original position in the select panels, regardless of their date of joining.
“It is further directed that if the candidates/appointees including those already appointed and regularized who do not acquire/possess the requisite qualifications in terms of the NCTE notifications and fail to qualify the TET within the period prescribed hereinabove, the State is at liberty to dispense with their services as the mandate of Article 21-A of the Constitution of India cannot be left at altar even while rendering complete justice invoking Article 142 of the Constitution of India,” it said.
The bench directed that the judgment be widely publicised and all the candidates shall be duly informed of these directions so that “they can take recourse for acquiring the minimum qualification as per NCTE Regulations and Notifications, if they have not already acquired the same”.
