Temporary teachers' appointment should be kept in abeyance: HC

CHENNAI: Justice D Krishnakumar of the Madras High Court on Friday held that the school education department shall receive applications for appointing the temporary school teachers but the appointment process should be kept in abeyance until further orders are passed by the HC.

The judge passed the direction on hearing a petition filed by V Ravi. The petitioner sought a direction to quash the notification issued by the commissioner of school education dated June 23.

“The school education department had issued notifications to fill up the 13,331 vacant posts of Secondary Grade Teachers (SGT), BT Assistants (BTAs) and Post Graduate Teachers (PGT) with the temporary appointments. However, it seems that the minimum qualification of the pass in Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) has not been made mandatory for the said posts. Therefore, the notification is liable to be set aside, ” the petitioner submitted.

He further submitted that the notification issued was against the Right To Education Act and Tamil Nadu Educational Service Rules.

When the matter was taken up for hearing the school education department’s commissioner was present before the court and explained the eligibility for these temporary appointments.

“As per clause 4 (m) of the recent notification dated June 30, the SGTs, BTAs and PGTs should meet several conditions. For SGTs and BTAs, applications will be considered from candidates who possess essential qualifications or who have passed the TET or people who worked as volunteers for the Illam Thedi Kalvi scheme. For PGTs, people who have cleared the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) exam and attended the certification verification process are eligible along with the above-said qualifications set for the SGTs and BTAs, ” the school education department submitted.

Recording the submissions, the judge directed the commissioner of school education to issue revised instructions for submission of applications by the applicants either in person or through e-mail / online to the district educational authorities.

The judge further wanted the department to process the applications in regard to sections i, ii and v with priority as mentioned in clause 4 (m) of the notification dated June 30.

As per the directions of the HC, the school education should process the SGT and BGT applications only from candidates who have essential qualifications, a pass in TET or experience in the Illam Thedi Kalvi scheme.

Also, the court wanted to process applications for PGT posts on the condition that the applicant should have passed the TET and attended the certificate verifications.

“The said appointments will be purely on a temporary basis, subject to the outcome of the orders to be passed in the writ petition, ” the judge held.

The judge posted the matter on July 7 directing the commissioner of the school education department to file a report.