Fake Certificates in Teacher Jobs: Allahabad High Court Orders Statewide Scrutiny of Appointments

The Allahabad High Court recenlty upheld the cancellation of an Assistant Teacher’s appointment nearly 15 years after her induction into service, after authorities found that the job had been secured using forged educational and domicile certificates.

While dismissing the teacher’s challenge to the termination order, court also flagged a wider pattern of fraudulent appointments in the basic education system and directed the State government to conduct a time-bound, state-wide scrutiny of such recruitments.

"The authorities entrusted with the duty of maintaining purity in the education system have failed to take effective and timely action...The inaction on the part of the authorities not only perpetuates fraud but also strikes at the very root of the education system, causing grave prejudice to the interest of students, which is of paramount and overriding consideration for this court," said the single judge bench of Justice Manju Rani Chauhan.

The petition was filed by Garima Singh, who was appointed as an Assistant Teacher in July 2010 and posted at Uchchatar Prathmik Vidyalaya, Bardiha Dalpat, in Deoria district. She had continued in service for nearly 15 years when, in August 2025, the District Basic Education Officer, Deoria, cancelled her appointment following a fresh verification of her documents.

Before the high court, the petitioner contended that her educational and other certificates had already been verified at the time of her appointment and that she had served without any adverse record for over a decade. She argued that the cancellation order was arbitrary and illegal, as it was passed without giving her any notice or opportunity of hearing, in violation of principles of natural justice.

The State authorities, however, opposed the plea, submitting that a detailed verification exercise had revealed that the documents submitted by the petitioner at the time of appointment were forged. The respondents told the court that a notice dated July 2, 2025, had been issued to the petitioner, but she failed to submit any reply or produce documents to establish the genuineness of her certificates.

According to the Basic Shiksha Adhikari, verification by the competent authority as well as the Special Task Force showed that the educational certificates and domicile certificate used for securing the appointment belonged to another candidate with the same name. It was argued that the petitioner had obtained employment by playing fraud upon the authorities and that such appointments do not warrant a departmental inquiry or personal hearing.

The respondents relied on multiple earlier judgments of the high court, which have consistently held that where an appointment is secured on the basis of forged or fabricated documents, the beneficiary of such fraud cannot claim the protection of disciplinary rules or insist on a detailed inquiry.

After hearing the parties, Justice Chauhan refused to interfere with the cancellation order. Court also rejected the petitioner’s submission that she should be relegated to an alternative remedy of appeal, holding that the existence of such a remedy is not a bar where a plea of violation of natural justice has been raised.

Dismissing the writ petition, court went beyond the individual dispute and recorded serious concern over what it described as a disturbing pattern of fraudulent appointments in the basic education sector.

Court noted that a large number of Assistant Teachers across the State have secured appointments using fake certificates or by concealing material facts and have continued in service for years, often in collusion with school managements and education officials.

Observing that repeated government circulars and instructions have failed to curb such practices, the court said that the inaction of authorities entrusted with maintaining the purity of the education system has caused grave prejudice to students.

In a significant direction, court issued a mandamus to the Principal Secretary, Basic Education, to carry out a comprehensive and time-bound scrutiny of Assistant Teachers’ appointments across Uttar Pradesh. Court directed that appointments obtained through fraud be cancelled and salary recovered wherever permissible, while also calling for stringent disciplinary and penal action against officials found to have colluded in or ignored such illegal appointments.

The entire exercise has been directed to be completed preferably within six months.

Case Title: Garima Singh vs State of UP and 2 Others

Order Date: January 22, 2026

Bench: Justice Manju Rani Chauhan