VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court division bench on Tuesday faulted the State government for filling Secondary Grade Teacher (SGT) posts under DSC-2025 based on the priorities given by candidates during applications instead of merit.
The bench comprising Justice Battu Devanand and Justice Avadhanam Hariharanath Sarma directed the government to consider filling the posts purely on merit and also review the petitioners’ eligibility for School Assistant (SA) posts.
The case was filed by Bandegiri Habshirun and nine others, who challenged the government’s decision to allot posts based on candidates’ preferences rather than their performance in the exams. Earlier, a single bench led by Justice Nyapati Vijay had faulted the government’s stance.
However, the State challenged that order before the division bench.
The judges questioned the logic of prioritising preferences over merit. “If preferences are the deciding factor, then what is the value of securing the first rank in the SA test?” they asked. The court also pointed out that the government had collected separate fees and conducted separate examinations for SGT and SA posts, yet ignored merit.
Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas, representing the government, argued that the petitioners had not challenged the rules which clearly outlined the preference-based procedure.
Counsels GVS Kishore and Gottipati Kavitha, appearing for the petitioners, contended that top-ranked candidates were unfairly denied posts despite strong performance.
The division bench upheld the single bench’s decision. It refused to interfere with its order.