69000 teacher recruitment case: the full timeline from 2018 to 2026
The advertisement for 69000 assistant teacher posts came out in December 2018. Almost eight years later there is still no final judgment in the case. About 67,867 teachers are in service, while thousands of other candidates are still waiting.
This article contains no argument or opinion. It only sets out what happened, in what order, and where each fact comes from. The facts are as of 9 October 2026. For later hearings, please check the latest Supreme Court order.
The recruitment: 2018 to 2020
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 28 June 2018 | NCTE notification: B.Ed. holders eligible for primary teacher posts, subject to a 6-month bridge course |
| 1 December 2018 | Uttar Pradesh Government Order for ATRE-2019. It included candidates eligible under the NCTE notification |
| 5 December 2018 | ATRE-2019 advertisement: 69,000 assistant teacher posts |
| 6 January 2019 | The exam was held |
| 7 January 2019 | Qualifying marks fixed: 65% for unreserved (97 out of 150), 60% for reserved (90 out of 150) |
| 24 January and 7 March 2019 | The 23rd and 24th amendments added B.Ed. to the U.P. Basic Education (Teachers) Service Rules, 1981 |
| 12 May 2020 | Result: 1,46,060 candidates qualified |
| October and November 2020 | Two lists (31,277 and 36,590): 67,867 appointed in total. 1,133 Scheduled Tribe (ST) posts remained vacant |
| 18 November 2020 | Supreme Court, Ram Sharan Maurya v. State of U.P.: the cut-off was upheld. The Court said B.Ed. candidates were "rightly allowed to participate" |
The reservation dispute: 2020 to 2024
What the complaint was: Reserved-category candidates whose marks were equal to those of general-category candidates were kept on reserved seats instead of being counted in the unreserved (open) category. This left fewer seats for the remaining reserved-category candidates.
The State's admission: The State Government accepted that there was an error in applying reservation. In May 2022 it said on affidavit that horizontal and vertical reservation had been applied in the wrong order.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 5 January 2022 | The State issued an additional list of 6,800 reserved candidates (5,660 OBC, 1,041 SC, 99 persons with disabilities), subject to the pending petitions. No counselling or district allotment followed |
| 27 January 2022 | The Allahabad High Court (Justice Rajan Roy) stayed it: appointments cannot be made beyond the 69,000 advertised posts |
| 13 March 2023 | The Single Judge quashed the 6800 list and ordered the 2020 list to be revised |
| 13 August 2024 | Division Bench (Special Appeal No. 172/2023): the 2020 list and the 6800 list set aside; a fresh list of 69,000 to be prepared within 3 months |
The B.Ed. question: 2023 to 2024
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 11 August 2023 | Supreme Court, Devesh Sharma v. Union of India: B.Ed. is not a qualification for primary teachers. The 2018 NCTE notification was struck down |
| 8 April 2024 | Clarification: B.Ed. teachers appointed before 11 August 2023 remain protected, subject to the bridge course. "Mere selection" is not enough |
This question matters here because if a fresh list is drawn up with reservation applied correctly, many of the candidates who come into it are B.Ed. holders who were never appointed. The order of 8 April 2024 speaks of teachers who had already been appointed before 11 August 2023.
The Supreme Court: 2024 to 2026
Lead case: Ravi Kumar Saxena v. State of U.P., SLP(C) No. 21273/2024. About 60 petitions are tagged with it.
| Date | Bench | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2024 | Chief Justice Chandrachud, J. Pardiwala, J. Misra | Notice issued. Steps to prepare a fresh list "shall be held in abeyance" for now |
| 18 November 2025 | J. Datta, J. Masih | Partly heard |
| 4 February 2026 | J. Datta, J. Masih | Recorded in the order: "We have indicated our mind" to the State's counsel |
| 19 May 2026 | J. Datta, J. Masih | The State said it was ready to appoint candidates who come into the revised list. Conditions: vacancies exist, minimum qualification is met, and it is not treated as a precedent |
| 20 July 2026 | — | The State filed an affidavit with a recomputed list of 8,270 names |
| 28 July 2026 | J. Datta, J. Nagu | The Court would decide whether to use Article 142 or hear the case on merits |
| 4 August 2026 | J. Bhatti, J. Anjaria | New bench |
| 9 September 2026 | J. Bhatti, J. Anjaria | The matters were divided into eight categories |
| 16, 22 to 24, 29 and 30 September 2026 | J. Bhatti, J. Anjaria | Category-wise hearing |
| 6 October 2026 | — | Hearing continued |
| 7 October 2026 | — | According to one news report, the case was heard on this day too |
Four things to keep in mind about this table:
- The order of 9 September 2024 only halted the process of preparing a fresh list. The High Court judgment as a whole was not stayed, and the 6800 list was not restored.
- On several dates in 2024 and 2025 (23 September 2024, 27 November 2024, 19 December 2024, 11 February 2025) the case could not be heard. Written orders for these dates are not available.
- The bench for 6 and 7 October 2026 is left blank here because the available reports do not agree on the judges' names.
- The figure of 8,270 and the cut-offs (unreserved 69.46, OBC 65.92, SC 60.14, ST 56.09) are taken from the affidavit's annexure and from news reports, not from any court order.
Where things stand now
- There is no final judgment. No date has been announced for the hearing to conclude.
- The halt on preparing a fresh list continues.
- According to news reports, the State says no serving teacher will be removed.