The Supreme Court has declared that clearing the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) is mandatory for all individuals seeking teaching positions in non-minority schools, as well as for in-service teachers aspiring for promotions.

Ruling by Bench of Justices Datta and Manmohan

Delivering the verdict, a Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Manmohan clarified that teachers with more than five years of service left before retirement must pass the TET within the next two years. Those unwilling to comply will have the option to resign or face compulsory retirement, as per the LiveLaw report.

Using Article 142 of the Constitution, the court let teachers who had fewer than five years of service remaining to stay in their positions without passing the TET. The Bench did clarify, though, that these instructors would not be eligible for promotion until they passed the test.

"On the applicability of TET to in-service teachers, we have held in clear terms that those aspiring for appointment and those in-service teachers aspiring for appointment through promotion must qualify the TET or else they would have no right for the consideration of their candidature," the Bench stated, as reported by LiveLaw.

"But at the same time kept the ground realities and practical challenges and this is where we have issued directions under Article 142. Bearing in mind the predicament, we invoke Article 142 and direct that those teachers who have less than five years of service left as on date be continued in service till they attain the age of superannuation without qualifying the TET. However, we make it clear that if any such teacher (having less than five years' service left) aspires for promotion, he will not be considered eligible without he/she having qualified the TET," the report added.

Exemption for Minority Institutions

Significantly, the Supreme Court ruled that minority educational institutions would not be liable to the TET requirement under the Right to Education (RTE) Act until a larger bench decides the ongoing issue of whether the Act applies to these kinds of institutions, according to the report.