UP Teacher Recruitment 2025: High Court Rejects EWS Quota Demand in 69,000 Assistant Teacher Recruitment
UP Teacher Bharti Latest Update: In a significant judgment, the Allahabad High Court has dismissed the demand to implement the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) reservation in the recruitment process of 69,000 assistant teachers in Uttar Pradesh. The court clarified that although the EWS quota was implemented in the state at the time, no changes can be made to a recruitment process that has already been completed.
High Court’s Verdict
The division bench comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Praveen Kumar Giri delivered this verdict while hearing appeals filed by Shivam Pandey and other petitioners. The petitioners argued that while the recruitment began on May 17, 2020, the UP government had notified the implementation of the EWS quota on February 18, 2019, following the 103rd Constitutional Amendment which introduced EWS reservation on January 12, 2019.
Senior advocates Ashok Khare, G.K. Singh, and Agnihotri Tripathi, representing the petitioners, argued that despite the timely implementation of EWS reservation in the state, candidates from the EWS category were not provided any reservation benefits in the recruitment.
Government’s Error Acknowledged, But No Relief Possible
The court acknowledged that the EWS quota should have been applied at the time of advertisement. However, since the entire recruitment process has already been completed and all posts have been filled, it is no longer legally permissible to make any changes. The court also noted that the selected candidates were not made a party to this case and that the selection process itself was not directly challenged.
No Mention of EWS Status by Candidates
Another critical observation by the court was that none of the candidates had declared their EWS status during the recruitment process. Without proper documentation and merit lists specifying EWS candidates, it is impossible to retrospectively determine who was eligible for the quota.
Implications for Future Recruitments
This ruling is particularly important for thousands of aspirants who were hoping for relief under the EWS category. While the court accepted that the state government erred in not applying the EWS quota from the beginning, it firmly stated that no interference is possible once recruitment is concluded.
The decision serves as a strong reminder to governments to implement reservation policies timely and correctly, to avoid such legal disputes in the future.