DINESH KUMAR CHATURVEDI Vs. STATE OF M.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners, in this batch of petitions, are aggrieved by and are assailing the provisions of circular no.F1/1/201/2023/38-1, dtd. 5/10/2023, (Annexure P/1) issued by Higher Education Department of State of Madhya Pradesh, whereby, the instructions regarding filling up of vacant posts in teaching faculty by Guest Faculty members in Government Colleges, have been issued. The petitioners are aggrieved by certain provisions of the said policy whereby the provisions of existing policy are eliminated as a result of which the petitioners are put to disadvantageous position in the matter of determining merits of the candidates based upon their marks obtained in Post Graduate courses.

(2.) The litigation concerning Guest Faculty members is not new for the courts and the issues in this regard have been coming before the courts of and on. From the records, it is gathered that, in the year 2014, the State Government issued an advertisement for appointment of teachers as Guest Faculty for academic year 2014-15 in various colleges. The persons duly selected, were appointed and discharged their duty during said academic session. The dispute arose when, for the new session, such persons were discontinued from service and new advertisement was issued inviting applications for next session. Being aggrieved, the writ petition (W.P. No.4716 of 2016) was filed challenging the action of department in issuing fresh advertisement instead of continuing the same incumbents for next session also. The writ petition came to be allowed by learned Single Judge of this Court and the respondents were directed to continue the petitioners therein to work on their respective posts till regular selections are made. The order passed by learned Single Judge came to be challenged by State Government in appeal before the Division Bench of this Court which came to be allowed and the order passed by learned Single Judge was set aside and the writ petition was dismissed.

(3.) Being aggrieved, the writ petitioners therein challenged the order passed by Division Bench before the Apex Court. The Apex Court initially passed interim order as a result of which the incumbents continued to work on their respective posts. Subsequently, the Apex Court vide order, dtd. 21/4/2022, passed in the case of Manish Gupta and another vs. State of M.P. & ors. in Civil Appeal No.3084-3088 of 2022, upheld the directions issued by learned Single Judge of this Court directing writ petitioners to continue to work on their respective posts till regular selections are made. The Apex Court passed following order/directions: