The Karnataka High Court has affirmed that female teachers over 50 and male teachers over 55 cannot be classified as 'excess teachers' during the rationalisation and redeployment process.

This ruling enforces Section 10(1)(vi) of the Karnataka State Civil Services (Regulation of Transfer of Teachers) Act, 2020, mandating that such exemptions be upheld.

The court's decision came in response to appeals by the Department of School Education, challenging the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal’s order that overturned the transfer of teachers Umadevi Hundarkar and Prabhavati Ronad from their Bagalkot district high schools.

The bench, led by Chief Justice N.V. Anjaria and Justice S.G. Pandit, stressed that the statutory protections for eligible teachers must be applied, regardless of their requests. The Court emphasized that age-based exemptions are well-established and that the authorities failed to consider the teachers' valid claims, thereby upholding the tribunal's decision.

This ruling reinforces the principle that statutory provisions designed to protect certain groups must be adhered to rigorously. The decision also highlights the need for education authorities to respect and implement legal protections, ensuring that the rights of senior teachers are safeguarded during administrative processes