High Court stays Punjab’s directive to regularise assistant professors

Chandigarh, December 13

Three months after Punjab directed all aided institutions to regularise the services of ‘140’ contractual assistant professors, who had completed three years of service, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today stayed the implementation of the order.

The direction by Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma of the high court came on a petition filed against the state of Punjab and other respondents by Ravleen Sahi and other petitioners through counsel Sameer Sachdeva.

Appearing before Justice Sharma’s Bench, he submitted that the order dated September 12 was against the view expressed by the high court in the case of “Garima Sood and others versus the State of Punjab and others” decided on September 14.

Sachdeva submitted that the “regularisation of assistant professors was de-hors, or foreign to, the University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations as well. Orders could not be passed to regularise the services of the assistant professors in colleges affiliated to the universities merely because they were aided institutions as the UGC regulations would be applicable.

Taking a note of the submissions, the Bench asked the state counsel to file a reply before fixing the case for further hearing on December 18.

“In the meantime, the operation of order dated September 12 passed by the Principal Secretary, Higher Education Department, Punjab, shall remain stayed,” Justice Sharma asserted.