CUTTACK : The Orissa High Court on Wednesday concluded its hearing on a batch of petitions that had challenged the process adopted for selection and appointment of junior teachers in primary and upper primary schools across the state.
While reserving the judgment, the single judge bench of Justice Biraja Prasanna Satapathy said the restriction on final selection and appointment will continue till disposal of the petitions. Justice Satapathy had imposed the interim restriction while admitting the batch of petitions on January 19. OSEPA had invited applications to recruit junior teachers on September 10, 2023 with October 10as last date for submitting applications online. After conducting a Computer Based Test (CBT), OSEPA had published the draft merit list of 18,788 candidates and fixed January 20 and 21 for verification of documents.
In the January 19 order, Justice Satapathy said, “Let the process with regard to verification of documents may continue on the date fixed, but no final decision be taken with regard to final selection and appointment till January 24.” The interim order was then extended to January 30.
The grievance of the petitioners is that the draft merit list was published without adhering to guidelines which OSEPA had issued for recruitment of junior teachers in primary schools. OSEPA had published the draft merit list which was more of a state merit list instead of a district wise merit list.