Cuttack: The Orissa High Court Tuesday upheld the merit list prepared by the Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) for recruitment of junior teachers in primary and upper primary schools in January this year.
While hearing the petitions challenging the order issued by a single-judge bench of the HC for preparing a fresh merit list for recruitment, a division bench of Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh and Justice Murahari Sri Raman directed the authorities to go ahead with the recruitment of teachers based on the prepared merit list while prioritising the district preference.
According to sources, OSEPA had September 10, 2023 invited applications for recruitment of junior teachers in primary and upper primary schools of the state. It published the draft merit list January 15 and the document verification was scheduled for January 20 and 21.
A batch of petitions in the court challenged the merit list on the ground that the School and Mass Education department’s August 22, 2023 guidelines on the engagement of junior teachers provided for the preparation of a district-wise draft merit list.
The OSEPA, however, published a single merit list without adhering to the procedure. And that affected several students, they said. In an interim order, a singlejudge bench of the HC January 19 had allowed verification of the documents but barred OSEPA from final selection and appointment.
The bench had in March this year directed OSEPA to come up with a fresh draft merit list for the appointment of over 18,000 junior teachers in primary schools (Class I to V) and upper primary schools (Class V to VIII) in the state. The bench modified the earlier order delivered by a single-judge bench after examining fresh information furnished by the state government and OSEPA.
PNN