SC notice to Centre, NCTE, CBSE for 10% quota in CTET

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a notice to the Centre, the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE) and the CBSE on a plea seeking 10% reservations to candidates from the economically weaker section in the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) 2019.

A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna admitted a petition filed by Rajneesh Kumar Pandey and others for consideration and sought a response from the authorities by July 1.

The petitioner's counsel contended that the constitutional right which had been given for the upliftment of economically weaker sections must be applied in the examination.

The top court had earlier on May 13 said the policy of reservation can't be applied in case of qualifying examinations and can only be applied at the time of final selection.

The CTET, 2019 is a central government test that gives scores to aspiring teachers, in an examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

On Thursday, the counsel for the petitioners contended that other reserved categories like SC/STs and OBCs were extended the benefit of relaxation in marks.

The petitioners sought a direction to the Union government's Ministry of Human Resource Development to ensure implementation of the Constitution's (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019, that granted 10% reservation to candidates from the economically weaker section, in the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) 2019.

They sought a direction for including 10% quota for economically weaker sections in the final selection list of the CTET. The petitioners claimed that the HRD Ministry issued the CTET advertisement on January 23 in “wholly illegal and arbitrary manner” without including the 10% quota for economically weaker sections.