The Gauhati High Court has directed the authorities to consider the regularisation of contractual teachers who had served for over a decade at the erstwhile Cotton College/Cotton University, holding that the principles in Secretary, State of Karnataka v. Umadevi (2006) 4 SCC 1 cannot be mechanically applied to defeat legitimate claims arising from long and uninterrupted service.
The petitioners, engaged between 2007 and 2010 through public advertisements and selection processes, had continuously performed teaching, examination, curriculum and administrative duties. Some were subsequently redesignated as Assistant Professors (Contractual).
The Court emphasised that Umadevi case distinguishes between illegal and irregular appointments and was never intended to legitimise exploitative contractual engagements or permit the State to take advantage of its own failure to undertake timely regular recruitment. Courts must examine the manner of initial selection, qualifications, nature of duties, continuity of service, existence of a perennial institutional requirement and the employer’s conduct, rather than merely the contractual nomenclature.
Relying on subsequent Supreme Court decisions, the Court held that prolonged contractual employment against a continuing institutional requirement cannot be defeated simply by invoking Umadevi.
The Court therefore directed the authorities to consider each petitioner for regularisation as Assistant Professor in their respective departments, examine their educational qualifications and other statutory eligibility requirements, and pass a reasoned decision in each case.
The Court also noted that until the exercise is completed and a final decision is taken, any impugned termination orders against the petitioners shall remain in abeyance. Any decision regarding continuation of their services will abide by the outcome of the regularisation exercise. The entire process must be completed within two months from receipt of a certified copy of the judgment.
