Two years after the Yogi Adityanath-led government admitted to “irregularities” in the reservation process for 69,000 assistant teachers’ recruitment in Uttar Pradesh and selected an additional 6,800 reserved candidates as a “corrective measure”, the Chief Minister has purportedly reversed his stance.  

At the BJP’s OBC executive meeting on July 29, Adityanath said that those raising questions about the recruitment are “pawns of the Samajwadi Party, people of the same family, and one particular caste”, ostensibly pointing to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s family and the Yadav community. He claimed that there was no disadvantage to the reserved category students and more OBC candidates were selected than mandated in the reservation policy.    

His statements came amid protests by more than 250 candidates previously selected for the assistant teacher post and “awaiting appointment letters”. The candidates have been protesting at Lucknow’s Eco Garden for more than 600 days, while the Allahabad High Court in March last year directed the government to cancel the preliminary list of 69,000 candidates and prepare a new list. The government is yet to furnish a new list, and the final decision in the matter is pending in the court.   

In 2021, UP govt accepted quota anomaly 

On December 23, 2021, months ahead of the UP assembly polls, Adityanath met students protesting over the “reservation scam” in the recruitment of 69,000 teachers. 

In a subsequent post on X, he admitted that there was “anomaly in reservation” and that he has directed the basic education department to “find a quick and fair solution to the problem”.

On December 24, 2021, basic education minister Satish Dwivedi told the media that there were “some discrepancies in implementing the reservation process” and that “candidates were complaining that the names of those who should have been in the selection list, are not in the list”.

Dwivedi said that “after studying the process, it was seen that some candidates of the reserved category were affected” and the state education department has decided that “the affected candidates of the reserved category will be recruited. That process will start from December 24. today itself, and will be completed after counselling on January 6, 2022”.

The department then selected 6,800 additional candidates for recruitment. However, their counselling was postponed and not held on January 6, 2022. Two days later, the election commission announced assembly polls in the state and the process was halted in view of the code of conduct. 

High Court, OBC commission say ‘there were reservation anomalies’

Both the Allahabad High Court and the National Other Backward Classes Commission subsequently said that there were reservation anomalies in the allocation of seats in the teacher recruitment process. 

In July 2020, the complainant candidates approached the National OBC Commission, which investigated the matter and identified anomalies in allocation of seats. Following the findings of the commission, the UP government again reviewed the matter in April 2021 and asserted that corrective measures will be implemented.

On January 2, 2022, a single judge bench of the High Court stayed the selection of the 6,800 candidates, asking on which posts will the government appoint these candidates when 69,000 posts had already been filled.  

In March last year, the High Court ruled that there were irregularities in the administration of reservations during the examination process for the teacher recruitment. The court directed the state to cancel the preliminary list of 69,000 candidates and prepare a new list within three months. The government has not yet furnished the new list.

On July 29, CM Yogi Adityanath claimed that there was no disadvantage to the reserved category students and more OBC students were recruited than mandated in the reservation policy. He said, “Questions are raised on the recruitment of 69,000 teachers. These people are the same pawns of the Samajwadi Party, who had filled 56 out of 86 posts…with people of the same family and one particular caste. Those people are the ones who raise questions today. If 27 percent OBCs were recruited according to reservation in the recruitment of 69,000 teachers, then 18,200 would have been recruited…but 31,500 youth were recruited. They are worried about this.”

With the matter pending in court, the candidates initially “selected” for the assistant teachers post are left in the lurch. Newslaundry had spoken to several such candidates at Lucknow’s Eco Garden in January this year. Watch here.  

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