Srinagar: In a case related to contractual and academic arrangement appointments at University of Kashmir (KU), the High Court of J&K and Ladakh has upheld that such appointees cannot be replaced by a similar arrangement for every academic session.
A division bench comprising Justices Sanjeev Kumar and Sanjay Parihar said “the view of the Writ Court that an ad hoc, contractual, or academic arrangement appointee cannot be replaced by a similar arrangement for every academic session and that such appointees are entitled to continue till the posts against which such appointees have been engaged are filled up through a regular selection process is unexceptionable and is, therefore, upheld.”
The bench further said “since the respondents (appointees) in all these appeals have been engaged by the appellants (KU) on contractual/academic arrangement basis for an academic session and against no substantive vacant posts, the direction to the appellants to continue them in such arrangement till the posts held by them are substantively filled up through a regular selection process cannot be issued, for, the respondents are engaged only against positions and not against substantive vacant posts of Assistant Professors existing in the departments of the appellants. Such distinction has been very aptly brought out by the Writ Court in the judgment impugned.”
Appeals had been filed by the University against the single bench order of July 2025 that barred it from replacing contractual faculty with new ad-hoc appointees. The court had ruled that a “hire and fire” policy is not permissible.
With regard to the requirement of temporary faculty in the Department of Law, the division bench left it to the department concerned and the regulatory authority under the Advocates Act, 1961, i.e., the Bar Council of India, to take a call.
“Should the appellants need the services of ad hoc, contractual, or academic arrangement appointees to supplement their existing core faculty, they shall be free to make such arrangements,” said the court adding “however, while doing so, they shall first offer these engagements to the respondents who have already acquired requisite experience in teaching by rendering their services in earlier academic sessions”. This according to the judges would benefit the appellants and the student community.
Court directed the University “to refrain from replacing the respondents herein, who are in position or who are invited to work in such positions as contractual appointees, by making similar arrangements for meeting the same requirement by resorting to a change of nomenclature”.
The Department of Law of the University has however been permitted to avail the services of part-time and guest faculty, who shall be engaged only to teach specific subjects or deliver lectures on a particular subject or issue of law.
The court made it clear that they would not be whole-time faculty supplied in lieu of core regular faculty.
“The directions of the Writ Court to the University of Kashmir not to replace the existing contractual arrangements by a similar arrangement are restricted only to the departments where there is requirement of teaching faculty but the same is not met due to inability of the appellants to make regular selections,” the judges said.
Therefore, in the departments where the need to go for ad hoc, temporary, or academic arrangements has ceased to exist, they said “there shall be no direction to the appellants to continue the ad hoc, temporary, or academic arrangement faculty beyond the term of their contract.”
The bench advised the concerned authorities that today’s judgment shall be placed by the University before the Bar Council of India for appropriate action envisaged under the Advocates Act, 1961 and the rules framed thereunder, including the Bar Council of India Rules and the Rules of Legal Education, 2008.
The Bar Council of India, it said, shall immediately and forthwith visit the University of Kashmir and assess the requirement of core faculty to run the three-year as well as five-year law courses, and issue requisite directions including creation of posts, if any, required.
The Bar Council of India would also issue necessary directions to the University of Kashmir to streamline making of temporary arrangements to supplement the efforts of core faculty in imparting quality education to law students, the court directed.
