In a significant verdict, the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh today set aside a controversial Government order that allowed Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) teachers to count their pre-regularization service towards seniority.
In a 16-page judgement pronounced today, a Division Bench of the High Court comprising Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Sanjay Parihar held that the impugned Government order was violative of established service jurisprudence and contrary to the Jammu & Kashmir Civil Services Rules of 1956 and Educational Subordinate Services Recruitment Rules of 1979.
The Court made it clear that the ReTs cannot claim seniority from the date of their initial engagement since they do not become members of the regular service until formally appointed as General Line Teachers.
“Rule 24(1) of the 1956 Rules explicitly states that seniority must be counted from the date of appointment to the service while the ReT Scheme’s regularization clause grants only a “right of consideration,” not an entitlement to appointment or seniority,” observed the court.
Calling the Writ Court’s previous judgment, dated December 31, 2014, as “patently erroneous,” the Division Bench ruled that granting seniority for the ReT period, when the teachers were not yet part of the official cadre, was legally unsound and prejudicial to the merit-based recruits.
“The Writ Court appears to have been greatly swayed by extension of certain welfare provisions to the ReTs from time to time and has erroneously concluded that the Government itself had been treating the ReTs at par with the General Line Teachers. For the foregoing reasons, we regret our inability to persuade ourselves to concur with the reasoning given by the Writ Court,” observed the Division Bench.
However, the Court clarified that other welfare benefits extended to ReTs, such as leave and pensionable service consideration, remain unaffected.
By setting aside the controversial provision, the Court has drawn a clear line distinguishing temporary, policy-based engagements like ReT from constitutionally mandated recruitment processes.
The judgment was passed in LPASW No. 6/2015 c/w LPASW No. 18/2015, filed by some General Line Teachers challenging the policy that placed them junior to ReTs appointed after them.
The petitioners, including Anwar Hussain Wani and others, were appointed as General Line Teachers through the Jammu & Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) and had challenged Government Order No. 469-Edu of 2014 dated June 26, 2014. This order, implementing Cabinet Decision No. 115/09/2014, allowed five years of ReT service before regularization to be counted for seniority and pension benefits.
The ReT Scheme, introduced in the year 2000 under Government Order No. 396-Edu, was designed to address teacher shortages in rural areas by appointing local candidates on a temporary, honorarium basis. After five years of satisfactory service, these candidates became eligible for regular appointment as General Line Teachers.
The judgment also overruled a previous Division Bench ruling in Amit Padha versus State of J&K, declaring it per incuriam, noting that the 2014 proviso granting retrospective seniority was never considered in that case.
The judgement reaffirms the sanctity of competitive recruitment and seniority principles under public service law. The verdict restores the seniority rights of JKSSB-recruited teachers and upholds legal norms governing public service employment.
On the other hand, it is an apparent setback to thousands of ReTs who were consistently demanding implementation of the controversial Government order hoping for seniority parity with merit-selected General Line Teachers. Daily Excelsior
