Bhubaneswar: The Orissa High Court has approved the merit list prepared by the Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) for the recruitment of junior teachers on Tuesday. The court’s judgement came in the case of irregular recruitment of junior teachers.
The HC Division Bench modified the earlier order delivered by a single-judge bench and upheld the OSEPA’s merit list. The bench also directed that recruitment should be based on merit and preference. After this judgment of the High Court, many aspirants who have been waiting for recruitment for years are filled with hopes of getting the job.
As per reports, OSEPA published a notification inviting applications for 20k junior teacher posts to apply between 13 September 2023 to 10 October 2023. After various stages of examination, the list of meritorious candidates was published. However, the date for the certificate verification was fixed for the next stage without publishing a merit list.
Meanwhile, some petitioners challenged OSEPA’s statewide merit list in the High Court. They argued that as per the notification’s clause 8.3, the selection was supposed to be district-wise since it is a district cadre position.
OSEPA on the other hand published a state-wide single merit list which is a violation of the rule. This was challenged by the petitioners in the High Court. They requested the High Court to terminate the proceedings immediately.
On March 12, the High Court quashed both the OSEPA merit list as well as the district-wise list. Also, the single judge bench of the High Court gave an order directing OSEPA to prepare a revised merit strictly adhering to the appointment terms.
On Tuesday, the High Court Division Bench upheld the OSEPA’s original merit list after revising its ruling.
