Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court on Thursday dismissed a bunch of petitions seeking inclusion of shiksha mitras in the Special Teachers Eligibility Test (TET), 2026, which is going to be organized for working teachers.Dismissing the writ petitions filed by Waseem Ahmed and 220 other Shiksha Mitras, Justice Manju Rani Chauhan held that the petitioners cannot claim eligibility to appear in the special examination merely because they are eligible to take the general Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET).In this context, the HC also acknowledged that their legal status is different from that of working teachers and that the Constitution does not require the state to eliminate any distinction based on a valid legal purpose.In a judgment, the Supreme Court has made it mandatory for all teachers working in govt and aided schools to qualify the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET). Under the apex court’s order, teachers currently in service who do not meet this eligibility requirement will have to clear the special TET examination within one year. Failure to do so could result in them losing their jobs.Acting in pursuance of this order of the apex court, the Uttar Pradesh govt decided to conduct special TET 2026 through the Uttar Pradesh Education Service Selection Commission (UPESSC) for teachers in govt schools.Rejecting the claim of siksha mitras for being included in this special TET, the high court said, “This special TET is intended to enable existing teachers, whose continuation in service is subject to TET pursuant to the binding directions of the Supreme Court, to discharge that obligation within the extended period. It cannot be treated as a recruitment mechanism or as a device conferring any preferential right of appointment.”“It is a transitional qualifying measure intended to enable the specified class of existing in-service teachers to fulfil a mandatory qualification which became applicable to them subsequent to their entry into service. The opportunity to appear in such qualifying examination, therefore, neither creates any post nor reserves any vacancy nor confers any vested right of appointment,” the HC added.It said: “The classification between in-service teachers and persons who are not in service rests upon an intelligible differentia having a direct nexus with the object sought to be achieved. It neither confers a right of appointment nor dispenses with the mandatory requirement of TET, rather, it facilitates compliance with that requirement within the period judicially prescribed.”Hence, the petitioners cannot claim inclusion in a special examination merely because they are otherwise eligible to undertake the ordinary TET, the HC said.“Consequently, the challenge to the gov order dated Sept 2, 2026, insofar as it provides for a special TET for in-service teachers, stands failed. The writ petition, insofar as it seeks a direction to permit the petitioners to participate in the special TET meant for in-service teachers on the ground of alleged violation of Articles 14 (right to equality) and 16 (equal opportunity in the matter of employment) of the Constitution, is liable to be dismissed,” the HC said.
