Observing that “a notification inviting applications is not a finish line etched in stone”, the Telangana High Court dismissed a batch of writ petitions challenging the State government’s decision to reserve 30% of Secondary Grade Teacher posts for candidates possessing Diploma in Education (D.Ed) in 2009, days after issuing notification.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice P. Sam Koshy and Justice Suddala Chalapathi Rao, pronouncing the verdict, said the “law does not ask the State to freeze its wisdom at the moment of first notification”. On December 6, 2008, the then government of the undivided State of Andhra Pradesh issued a notification to fill up 52,655 teacher posts across the State through District Selection Committees (DSCs).
Nearly a month later, the government issued an order (GO Ms. No. 161) reserving 30% of the posts exclusively for D.Ed. qualification holders. The written test was held on May 29 and 30 in 2009, while results were declared on June 30. Some candidates who could not get selected for the posts moved the AP Administrative Tribunal questioning the government’s decision of reserving 30% posts to D.Ed. qualification holders.
They contended the reservation was illegal and arbitrary since it was announced after the ‘selection process had commenced’. The Tribunal dismissed their pleas. Questioning the Tribunal order, the batch of writ petitions were filed. The division Bench headed by the Acting CJ, holding that it found “no infirmity in the Tribunal order”, said the 30% reservation was a “modification made at the threshold of the DSC-2008 selection process.” It was “not a change in the rules of the game after the race had begun”, the verdict said.
The State cannot be denied its ordinary prerogative of refining its own design, the Bench said. However, such changes should be done in the open and the government must ensure its action did not snatch away by stealth or afterthought what it had promised to the applicants earlier, the judgement said.
Published – October 17, 2026 08:49 pm IST
