New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday reinstated two assistant teachers from Uttar Pradesh who were dismissed in 2018 for not having cleared the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) at the time of their appointment, ruling that they later obtained the qualification within the permitted grace period.

A bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran set aside the Allahabad High Court's orders that had upheld their termination, observing that the teachers had met the TET requirement before the statutory deadline of March 31, 2019.

“We find that the non-interference by the single judge of the high court and the affirmation by the division bench are erroneous, as the requirement to qualify TET was to be complied with by March 31, 2019, by when the appellants had undisputedly passed the TET,” the apex court said.

The two teachers, Uma Kant and another, were selected in 2011 as assistant teachers in Jwala Prasad Tiwari Junior High School, Kanpur Nagar, and joined service in March 2012. The TET was conducted for the first time in Uttar Pradesh in November 2011. While one of them cleared the exam that year, the other passed in May 2014.

Their services were terminated by the Basic Shiksha Adhikari in July 2018 for not possessing TET qualification at the time of appointment.

CJI Gavai, writing the judgment, noted that a 2017 amendment to Section 23(2) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, allowed teachers appointed before March 31, 2015, to acquire the qualification within four years—by March 31, 2019.

As both teachers cleared TET by 2014, the court held they could not be considered unqualified in 2018 and directed their immediate reinstatement.