Rajasthan Vidhyarthi Mitra Scheme illegal, unconstitutional:HC

The Rajasthan High Court has declared the Vidhyarthi Mitra Scheme introduced by the state government "illegal and unconstitutional".
The court has also restrained the state government from further engaging "Vidhyarthi Mitra" against the post of teachers (Grade III, senior teacher and school lecturer).
Allowing one of total 90 petitions and dismissing the rest, Justice Sangeet Lodha directed the state government to proceed with the recruitment process to fill in all vacant posts of teachers and school lecturers and complete the process within a period of six months.
The high court also directed the government to ensure payment to Vidhyarthi Mitras within a period of two months.

According to one of the counsels of petitioners, P S Bhati, the scheme framed by the government for engagement of Vidhyarthi Mitra on fixed honorarium till the availability of regularly selected teachers was questioned before the court.
Another counsel T S Rathore said the arrangements made for engagement of Vidhyarthi Mitra for short duration have been continuing since September 2006, and thus persons even not holding the requisite qualification have been teaching children of tender age studying in state-run schools.
The court observed that the scheme providing for the engagement of even unqualified/untrained persons as Vidhyarthi Mitra violated the relevant recruitment rules and eligibility criteria laid down by the NCTE and was against the constitutional scheme of public employment.