Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Friday quashed a Maharashtra govt communication that restricted promotions to teachers who cleared Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) or Central Teachers Eligibility Test (CTET) on or before Sept 1, 2025, holding that eligibility must be determined from the date the promotion process begins.Delivering a common judgement in three connected petitions, a division bench of Justices Anil Pansare and Rajnish Vyas ruled the director of education’s communication of May 14, 2026, was inconsistent with recent Supreme Court and High Court rulings governing teacher promotions after the landmark Anjuman Ishaat E Taleem Trust judgement.“The requirement of possessing/acquiring TET/CTET qualification is on the date of initiation of the promotion process and not prior to that,” the court said, adding limiting consideration only to teachers who qualified by Sept 1 “runs contrary” to the earlier law and “is thus liable to be quashed and set aside”.The petitions filed through senior counsel, Akshay Naik, along with Ashwin Deshpande, PS Kshirsagar and others, challenged the communication directing education officers to prepare fresh seniority lists by considering only teachers who passed TET/CTET by Sept 1, 2025. Petitioners argued the cut-off denied eligible teachers an opportunity to be considered for promotion.Rejecting arguments that a junior teacher who acquires TET/CTET earlier should rank above a senior colleague, the bench drew a clear distinction between seniority and eligibility for promotion.“The acquisition of requisite qualification will open the promotional avenues only. Thus, it can be said eligibility cannot rewrite seniority unless the statutory rules expressly provide so,” the court observed.The judges reiterated that employees have no fundamental right to promotion but only a right to be considered under applicable rules. Possessing TET/CTET is a mandatory eligibility condition for promotion, they said, but it does not alter an employee’s place in the seniority list.Seeking to bring uniformity across Maharashtra, the bench directed the state govt to reconsider its government resolution of Aug 1, 2019, and, if necessary, prescribe Jan 1 as the annual cut-off date. It suggested promotion exercises begin on Jan 1, conclude by March 31, with promotion orders issued by mid-May before the next academic session.The court said such an arrangement would reduce uncertainty after Supreme Court’s ruling and ensure consistent implementation across local authorities until the govt frames comprehensive guidelines.At the same time, the bench protected promotions already completed under the earlier policy, clarifying these would remain undisturbed. However, teachers who were excluded solely because of the quashed communication and are promoted in future exercises must have their seniority in the promotional cadre determined according to their seniority in the feeder cadre.The court also noted that Supreme Court, while deciding the review petition in the Anjuman Ishaat case, extended the deadline for in-service teachers to acquire TET qualification from two years to three years, allowing them until Aug 31, 2028.Key Takeaways:HC quashed director of education’s May 14, 2026, communication fixing Sept 1, 2025, as cut-off for TET/CTET eligibility for promotionsHeld that TET/CTET eligibility must be assessed on date the promotion process begins, not on an earlier cut-off date.Ruled acquiring TET/CTET qualification affects promotional eligibility but does not alter seniority unless statutory rules specifically provide so.Promotions already completed will remain validTeachers wrongly excluded due to quashed communication will receive promotional seniority based on feeder cadre seniority if promoted laterState has been directed to reconsider prescribing Jan 1 as annual promotion cut-off and frame uniform guidelines
