The Supreme Court today (May 16, 2019) issued notice to the Centre, the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on a petition seeking 10% reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) 2019.

The Vacation Bench comprising of JusticesIndira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna sought their replies by July 1, 2019, the next date of hearing. The exam is scheduled to be held on July 7, 2019.

The petition was filed by some of the candidates belonging to economically weaker sections who are planning to appear for the teacher eligibility test. The petitioners told the apex court that the CBSE had published an advertisement on January 23, 2019, notifying the test, but it did not mention the 10% reservation for candidates belonging to economically weaker sections.

Earlier on May 14, 2019, the Bench expressed its inclination to not entertain the plea stating that the issue of reservation will arise only at the stage of recruitment, not at the stage of an eligibility exam. However, the court subsequently listed the matter for hearing on May 16, 2019.

The Parliament had passed the Constitution (One Hundred and Third) Amendment Act, 2019, on January 9, 2019. It came into effect five days later after receiving the Presidential assent.

The Bill received a lot of opposition from various quarters, a petition was also filed by NGO Youth For Equality in the Supreme Court for quashing of the Bill, saying that the economic criteria cannot be the sole basis for reservation.