CUTTACK, India, May 16 -- Orissa High Court issued the following order on April 15:

1. This writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, 1950 has been filed by the Petitioners praying for directing the Opposite Parties to consider the case of the Petitioners to engage them as Sikhya Sahayaks under the backlog vacancies in view of the direction passed in W.A. No.701 of 2019 between Babita Satpathy and others Vrs. State of Odisha and others within a stipulated time and to pass such order/orders and direction/directions as the Court may deem fit and proper.

2. The factual backgrounds of this writ petition, which prompted the Petitioners for filing of the same is that, the Petitioners are trained graduates and they have passed OTET examination and as such, they (Petitioners) have possessed required academic and training qualification to be engaged as Sikhya Sahayaks as per the guidelines of the Government in consonance with provisions of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

As such, they (Petitioners) have possessed the required qualifications as prescribed by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCT) to get appointments as teachers for imparting education to the students of Class-I to Class-VIII.

As per the resolution of the Government, the Government of Odisha School and Mass Education Department made an advertisement on dated 26.12.2016 inviting the applications from the applicants to apply for Sikhya Sahayaks against the notified huge vacancies. As, the Petitioners had possessed required qualifications, they submitted their applications for the same.

But, their applications were rejected on the ground of their over age discriminating them (Petitioners) debarring them from getting appointment as Sikhya Sahayaks in spite of huge numbers of backlog vacancies.

When, several numbers of over age OTET passed graduates like the Petitioners were allowed to be considered to get appointments as Sikhya Sahayaks against the vacancies in view of the judgment dated 23.12.2020 passed in W.A. No.701 of 2019 between Babita Satpathy and others Vrs. State of Odisha and others along with two other writ appeals with the same, then, the Petitioners approached this Court by filing this writ petition praying for directing the O.Ps to consider their case at par with the applicants/Petitioners in the above disposed of W.A. No.701 of 2019 along with two other writ appeals with the same.

3. I have already heard from the learned counsel for the Petitioners and the learned Standing Counsel for the State.

4. During the course of hearing of this writ petition, the learned counsel for the Petitioners submitted the judgment dated 23.12.2020 passed in writ appeal vide W.A. No.701 of 2019 between Babita Satpathy and others Vrs. State of Odisha and others, judgment dated 19.12.2025 passed in batch of writ petitions in W.P.(C) No.32208 of 2023 between Dhaneswar Das and others Vrs. State of Odisha and others, the judgment dated 20.01.2026 passed in W.P.(C) No.4966 of 2025 between Ratnakar Nayak Vrs. State of Odisha and others, the judgment dated 19.02.2026 passed in batch of writ petitions in W.P.(C) No.8167 of 2025 between the Santosh Kumar Panigrahi and others Vrs. State of Odisha and others and the judgment dated 20.02.2026 passed in W.P.(C) No.33379 of 2022 between the Tanmaya Kumar Patra and others Vrs. State of Odisha and others contending for disposing of this writ petition passing similar judgment like the judgments passed in the above disposed of writ appeals and writ petitions, as the Petitioners are similarly placed with the Petitioners in the above disposed of writ appeals and writ petitions.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=I1mmm2bl4r4EREhYK63Kv240gxoVv%2F7TGEJBRmQgOEJd8f2Jc2MOXyjvX1QZwuVA&caseno=WP(C)/9372/2026&cCode=1&cino=ODHC010212682026&state_code=11&appFlag=)

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