State Can Re-Advertise Temporary Teaching Posts with New Qualifications; Guest Lecturer Cannot Claim Re-Appointment: Chhattisgarh HC

Recently, the Chhattisgarh High Court refused to allow a guest lecturer to continue in the post, who protested against her replacement with a candidate with higher qualifications.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Bibhu Datta Guru observed that a guest lecturer appointed on a temporary basis cannot claim re-appointment from the next session as a matter of right, and the state government is authorized to release a new recruitment advertisement with updated educational qualifications to hire well-qualified teaching staff and enhance educational standards.

In this case, the appellant was appointed as a guest lecturer in Political Science subject. She objected to the State Government's decision not to retain her for the next academic session. She protested against the release of recruitment advertisements for the next academic session which enhanced the educational qualifications to provide better education to the students in the colleges.

Earlier, the Single Bench dismissed the appellants' petition and secured her appointment making it clear that she shall not be replaced by a similar set of Guest Lecturer having similar qualifications as the petitioner, and to that extent, the rights and interest of the writ petitioner remains secure.

The appellant contended that until the regular appointment is made, she holds the absolute right to continue in the guest lecturer position.

Rejecting the appellants' contention, the judgment authored by the Chief Justice observed that updating the educational qualification being a prerogative of the state government cannot be interfered with by the Court unless the decision-making process was illegal or violates the fundamental right.

The court said that the recruitment to the post of guest lecturer could be re-advertised with modified requirements, and emphasized that the educational institution's interest, the UGC standards, and student benefits outweighed the petitioner's temporary role.

“In the present case, the appellant/writ petitioner is also a Guest Lecturer which is a temporary arrangement for one academic session. If the State has come up with a new Policy of 2024 which is in conformity with the UGC guidelines and better candidates would be available for the said posts, it cannot be said to be arbitrary or unreasonable if the State decides to advertise those posts and appoint fresh Guest Lecturers having better and higher qualifications in comparison to the existing ones with lesser qualification. Even otherwise, it is a settled position of law that the Courts cannot interfere with the soundness and wisdom of a policy. A policy is subject to judicial review on the limited grounds of compliance with the fundamental rights and other provisions of the Constitution. The Policy of 2024 would definitely be in the larger interest of the students.”, the court observed.

Affirming the Single bench decision, the court observed that since no restraint was put on the state government to advertise the post with modified requirements, therefore, the decision of the state government to recruit new guest lecturers with better qualifications than the petitioner cannot be faulted with.

Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed.

Appearance:

For Appellant : Mr.Mateen Siddiqui, Advocate

For Respondents : Mr.Y.S.Thakur, Additional Advocate General 

Case Title: Gayatri Sharma v. State of Chhattisgarh & Ors. 

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