In Brief
The Supreme Court upheld Rajasthan's policy granting 10-20% relaxation in Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) pass marks to reserved category candidates (SC/ST/OBC, women, persons with disabilities). The Court held that NCTE guidelines permitted states to grant relaxations 'in accordance with extant reservation policy', and a policy formulated at the time of implementation qualifies as 'extant'. The Court distinguished relaxation in eligibility criteria (permitting participation) from concessions in the selection process itself. Since TET weightage (20% of final score) was applied uniformly to all candidates, no category-based advantage arose. Reserved candidates scoring above the last selected general candidate could migrate to general seats, as TET relaxation was merely an eligibility measure, not a recruitment concession. The Court balanced quality education with constitutional equality mandates.
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