The Bombay High Court.on August 25, 2025 in the presence of Justices Smt. M.S. Jawalkar & Pravin S. Patil.J struck down a Government Resolution (GR) dated 20.05.2010 which had tried to cancel the Maharashtra Non-Agricultural Universities and Affiliated Colleges Standard Code, 1984 and replace it with the Maharashtra Civil Services Rules, meant for State government employees, until new statutes were made. The Petitioners, non-teaching staff of Rashtra Sant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University, argued that the GR was invalid since it was never published in the Official Gazette, that the Vice-Chancellor’s repeated orders under Section 12(8) of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016 wrongly stopped their promotions, and that the 2017 rules requiring graduation unfairly blocked promotions for those originally appointed with SSC/10th qualifications.
The Court held that since the 2010 GR was not published in the Gazette, it was invalid under Section 8(3) and (4) of the 1994 Act, and successive clarifications and VC directions were unsustainable. Referring to an RTI reply from the Director of Higher Education, the Bench found that the Standard Code continued to govern service conditions, and the State’s contrary stand was rejected. It ruled that the 2017 Recruitment Rules prescribing higher qualifications could not override vested promotional rights of existing employees, as denial would cause stagnation and discrimination. To resolve the inconsistency created by juniors already promoted, the Court relied upon the Supreme Court ruling in Gurcharan Singh Grewal v. Punjab State Electricity Board& Ors.(2009) 3 SCC 94. and the Bombay High Court ruling in Virendra Shankarrao Gonge v. State of Maharashtra 2006(5)BOM CR 93 both of which applied the principle of stepping up of pay to protect parity without unsettling earlier promotions.
Accordingly, the Court quashed the 2010 GR and declared the Standard Code of 1984 applicable to Nagpur University’s non-teaching staff. The Petitioners’ were directed to be given deemed date promotions with corresponding pay fixation, increments, arrears and revised pension where applicable, while juniors’ promotions were protected. The Respondents were ordered to complete the exercise within four months.
Appearances:
For the Petitioners: Advs.-Shri R.L. Khapre, Senior Advocate with Shri Anand Kinkar, Mrs. Renuka Puranik/Nalamwar
For the Respondents: Advs.- Shri A.S. Fulzele, Addl. G.P. for State; Shri N.S. Khubalkar for University; Shri A.B. Patil, Shri Sheikh Ayyub, Shri Rupesh Vaishnav and others for private respondents.
