Punjab moves SC to retain 1158 asst profs, librarians whose recruitment was quashed

Indian Express

2 days ago

The Punjab government has moved a petition in the Supreme Court urging it to reconsider its July 14 order by which recruitment of 1,158 assistant professors and librarians in the state-run colleges in 2021 was quashed.
In its plea, the government has sought permission to allow the appointed assistant professors to continue their services on a temporary basis until a fresh recruitment process is completed, Punjab education minister Harjot Singh Bains Monday said.
'Punjab government has moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of its 14 July 2025 orders — requesting that 1158 Assistant Professors and Librarians be allowed to continue for the time being in the interest of students in our government colleges. Meanwhile, the State is also exploring all other legal possible remedies,' Bains said on X.
The recruitees, who are now on the verge of being unemployed, meanwhile demanded they do not merely expect a 'modification' in the order, but 'complete justice.'
'Harjot bains ji, we expect a strong defence and complete justice — not mere modification. We are victims of system failure, not our own fault. It is about restoring merit, saving government colleges revived after three decades & honouring Punjab's vote for education,' they said in a post on X.
Quashing the appointment of 1,158 assistant professors and librarians, the Supreme Court on July 14 had also directed the Punjab government to initiate the fresh recruitment process as per the 2018 UGC regulations. A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran, setting aside the September 2024 decision of a division bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court, which upheld the appointments, had said that though they were aware that 'the quashing of the entire recruitment process will cause hardships for the selected candidates, but at the same time, there is no equity in the favour of selected candidates as challenge to the recruitment was made during the pendency of the process and appointments were subject to the Court orders.'
'A gross illegality like the present recruitment cannot be ignored,' the top court had said, while rapping the Punjab government for failing to explain why UGC norms were not followed. 'In the present case, the State has miserably failed to justify the departure from the standard norms of the recruitment process. It has failed to give any valid reason for not adopting the UGC Regulations and avoiding the Public Service Commission in the recruitment in question. Moreover, as discussed earlier, the reasons for this departure were narrow political and clearly arbitrary.'
The issue goes back to October 2021, when then Punjab Director of Higher Education issued a public notice inviting online applications for 1,091 assistant professor posts for various subjects and for 67 librarians ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections. Then Congress government had announced that these vacant posts would be filled 'within 45 days'
The recruitment later came under legal scrutiny after several candidates filed petitions alleging irregularities in the merit-based selection process. They alleged that the entire process was done in haste for political reasons and that department flouted UGC guidelines and also 'bypassed' the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC), whose approval was mandatory for these recruitments. The petitions demanded quashing of the entire exercise.
On August 8, 2022, High Court bench of Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu, while quashing the entire recruitment process, said: '..It cannot be ignored that the entire exercise has been conducted in total disregard of the rule of law and in case, the same is allowed to remain alive, that would be travesty of justice.'
In October 2023, Balwinder Kaur, one of the recruited assistant professors allegedly died by suicide while protesting against the ruling Aam Aadmi Party government for failing to give them postings despite recruitment. Later on September 23, 2024, a division bench of the high court reversed the 2022 decision of single bench and upheld the recruitments after the Punjab government challenged it in favor of 1158 recruitees.
However, the aspirants led by Mandeep Singh then moved the Supreme Court against the government alleging that the entire recruitment procedure was done by flouting the UGC norms.