HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Friday disposed of a writ petition filed by Kiran Kumar Kotagiri, an unemployed person, along with 19 other B.Ed candidates seeking judicial intervention against the state’s ongoing teacher promotion policies.
The petitioners claim that the policies violate constitutional provisions and a prior Supreme Court judgment. The petitioners challenged the continued implementation of GO 108, dated December 23, 1999, particularly Rule 3 Note 4, arguing it was inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Devesh Sharma v. Union of India & Others.
They contended that the state government has failed to align its promotion and appointment policy — specifically the transfer of Secondary Grade Teachers (SGTs) to School Assistant (SA) posts — with the merit-based principles laid down in the apex court’s judgment.
Taking up the petition, a bench of Justice P Sam Koshy and Justice Narsing Rao Nandikonda declined to interfere, stating that the nature of the relief sought could not be addressed under the writ jurisdiction.
The judges held that determining the ratio of posts to be filled through transfer or promotion was a policy matter within the exclusive purview of the state government.
“We are of the considered opinion that the writ in the nature of mandamus cannot be issued for the change of ratio,” the court observed. It added that such decisions are part of the government’s policy-making domain and do not warrant judicial intervention unless they are demonstrably arbitrary or unconstitutional.
While dismissing the petition, the court clarified that the petitioners were at liberty to present their grievance directly to the government, either individually or in a representative capacity.
The court reserved the petitioners’ right to approach the concerned authorities for redressal.
TG-EAPCET from April 29 to May 4
Hyderabad: The Telangana State Engineering, Agriculture and Pharmacy Common Entrance Test (TG EAPCET) will be conducted from April 29 to May 4 by Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH). The exam will be conducted in Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode for first-year undergraduate professional courses in the universities, private unaided and affiliated professional colleges in the state.
The exam for agriculture and pharmacy will be held in two sessions — from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm — on April 29 and in the morning session on April 30. The engineering test will be conducted from May 2 to 4 in both morning and afternoon sessions: 9:00 am to 12:00 noon and 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm.
The hall tickets for agriculture and pharmacy will be available for download from April 19 and the engineering ones will be available from April 22, the JNTUH administration said.
A total of 2,19,420 students have registered for engineering, 86,101 for agriculture and pharmacy, and 253 for both engineering and agriculture and pharmacy. The engineering test will be conducted at 124 centres, while the agriculture and pharmacy exam will be held at 112 centres across the state.