The Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a Jharkhand High Court ruling to hold that candidates who have qualified the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) or Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) from other states will not be eligible to appear in the recruitment exam for 26,000 assistant teachers’ positions in Jharkhand.

The apex court’s verdict mandates that only those candidates who have passed the Jharkhand Teacher Eligibility Test (JTET) will be eligible for the recruitment examination.

The ruling was delivered by a division bench of Justice J.K. Maheshwari and Justice Rajesh Bindal, following a petition filed by Jharkhand TET-qualified candidates Parimal Kumar and others, challenging the Jharkhand High Court’s earlier decision.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Amritansh Vats, representing the petitioners, argued that JTET-qualified candidates possess knowledge of Jharkhand’s regional languages, such as Santhali, Khortha, and Nagpuri, as they are tested on these subjects.

In contrast, CTET-qualified candidates from other states may lack proficiency in these languages, which could hinder effective teaching in Jharkhand’s primary schools where regional language is necessary, they added.

They further contended that allowing CTET candidates to participate would violate provisions of the Right to Education Act.

The top court said that the High Court judgment based on the concession of the Jharkhand Advocate General amounts to changing the rules of the game after the commencement of the recruitment process in July 2023.

The Advocate General had told the Court that the state was willing to relax the eligibility criteria for candidates possessing CTET certificates, if they cleared the STET within three years of appointment and were residents of Jharkhand living outside the state.

In December 2023, the Jharkhand High Court, responding to a petition by the Jharkhand CTET Passed Candidates Association, had ruled that CTET and TET-qualified candidates from other states could also participate in the recruitment process.

However, the Supreme Court intervened in April 2024, ordering the Jharkhand government and the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) not to publish the recruitment results without its permission.

With the latest ruling, the Supreme Court has set aside the High Court’s order, restricting eligibility to JTET-qualified candidates only.