Orissa HC overturns order on junior teacher BEd qualification, issues directives to Odisha govt

Orissa HC overturned a single-judge order disqualifying 15 junior teacher candidates over BEd qualifications, directing the Odisha govt to include them in the final merit list.

Orissa HC overturns order on junior teacher BEd qualification, issues directives to Odisha govt

View of Orissa High Court in Cuttack

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The Orissa High Court reversed a previous order by a single-beach judge that disqualified 15 candidates from junior teacher appointments for holding a two-year BEd (Special Education) degree instead of the required one-year qualification, criticising it for reliance on an outdated policy.

Further, in its order, the court directed the state government to include their names in the final merit list and appoint them.

Case Background

In September 2023, Odisha’s School and Mass Education Department invited applications for 18,000 junior teacher posts in primary and upper primary schools. As per the notification, the recruitment required a one-year BEd (Special Education) based on a 2010 National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) notification.

Fifteen candidates, who completed a two-year BEd course after the state discontinued the one-year program in 2014-15, initially appeared in the draft merit list.

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However, their names were excluded from the final list on August 5, 2024, for not meeting the one-year criteria. Thereafter, a single-judge bench upheld this rejection in October 2023, prompting the candidates to appeal.

Court’s Verdict

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Arindam Sinha and Justice MS Sahoo overturned the earlier ruling, noting the state’s failure to update its policy.

The court highlighted that the two-year course replaced the discontinued one-year program, making it unreasonable to penalize later candidates for a longer, updated curriculum.

The bench observed that the department relied on an obsolete NCTE notification without formulating its own recruitment policy. Moreover, it emphasized no logical basis existed to favour pre-2014 candidates over those with a more rigorous two-year degree.

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As such, the Orissa High Court ordered the inclusion of the 15 petitioners in the final merit list, mandating their appointment under the 2023 recruitment drive.

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