The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Assam government for appointing unqualified teachers, saying it will destroy future generations if allowed, as it issued notice in a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging a 2017 state law permitting private school teachers to be absorbed into government service.
The court observed that future generations will be at risk if teachers lacking requisite qualifications as per Parliament-enacted laws are appointed. The state assured the high court that fresh legislation would be enacted to address the constitutional and legal defects noted. The court in that order refused to protect the appointments carried out without following the prescribed recruitment procedure.
Assam residents Rajesh Chauhan and Madhab Mukunda Pujari moved the court challenging the Assam Education (Provincialisation of Services of Teachers and Re-Organisation of Educational Institutions) Act, 2017. Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, who argued the petition, said that the 2017 law serves as a route for private, unqualified teachers to enter government service without meeting the requisites under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, the National Council for Teacher Education Act, and the University Grants Commission Act. The state government passed the Assam Venture Educational Institutions (Provincialisation of Services) Act, 2011, to absorb these teachers into the government system as such institutions expanded. The Gauhati high court struck down the 2011 law and the subsequent amendment laws. The high court protected the services of those absorbed under the 2011 law after the state government filed a review petition in 2017. The PIL said that the defects were not addressed and the 2017 law was passed to allow teachers already absorbed to continue without any reevaluation. It cited a June 2026 Supreme Court order in Najma Khatun versus State of West Bengal. In the 2026 order, the Supreme Court said that public money cannot be utilised to sustain private patronage through a non-competitive and opaque appointment process.
“Why are they appointing unqualified teachers…We will destroy our future generations if this is permitted,” said a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana. It called the appointments in question a “blot on the system”.
