Yogi government gets a setback from the High Court!
The lucknow Bench of allahabad high court has given a big setback to the UP Basic education Department. The court has canceled the 'Last Come First Out' transfer policy brought in june 2024 to maintain the teacher-student ratio in primary schools. The court considered this order of the UP government as arbitrary and termed it discriminatory against junior teachers.
A single bench of Justice manish Mathur of the high court gave this verdict while hearing 21 writ petitions of hundreds of junior teachers including petitioner Pushkar Chandel. In this petition, the order given by the government on 26 june 2024 and the circular of the Basic education Department dated 28 june 2024 were challenged. In which it was claimed that it violates the fundamental right to equality as well as the Right to education Act.
This argument given by the petitioner
The petitioner argued that in compliance with these provisions, only the teacher who is later appointed in a primary school will be transferred to maintain the teacher-student ratio. With this policy, only junior teachers are transferred, while senior teachers or teachers who are not transferred to the same school for many years remain in their own school. This policy is also against the service rules of teachers. Responding to this, the state government said that the petitioners do not have the right to challenge the transfer policy. This transfer or adjustment policy is necessary to maintain the ratio of teachers and students under the Right to Education.
The court pronounced its verdict after hearing the arguments of both the parties. The court said that no valid reason has been given in the government order dated june 26, 2024 and the circular of the Basic education Department that justifies making the service time the basis in the transfer policy. If this policy is continued, only junior teachers will be transferred while senior teachers will remain in the same schools.