Supreme Court quashes over 1,000 Assistant Professor appointments in Punjab over UGC norm violations

The Supreme Court on Monday quashed the Punjab government's recruitment of 1,158 Assistant Professors and Librarians in government colleges, ruling the selection process as being violative of both constitutional norms and binding University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations [Mandeep Singh and Others v. State of Punjab and Others].

A Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran delivered the judgment in a batch of appeals challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court's Division Bench judgment, which had upheld the recruitment process.

"In the present case, there are multiple deficiencies. Giving away of a rigorous criteria laid down in UGC regulations with a single, multiple-choice question based written test, and the complete elimination of the viva-voce, all establish the arbitrary nature of the exercise which cannot pass the test of reasonableness laid down under Article 14 of the Constitution. Hence, the single judge (of Punjab and Haryana High Court) had rightly struck down the entire selection process, and the division bench of High Court erred in interfering with that conclusion," the Court said.

In January 2021, the State of Punjab requisitioned the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) to conduct the recruitment of 931 Assistant Professors and 50 Librarians. Later, the government sanctioned an additional 160 Assistant Professors and 17 Librarians for newly established colleges.

However, in September–October 2021, amid a change in government, the State altered the process, bypassing the PPSC and deciding to fill all 1,091 Assistant Professor and 67 Librarian posts through two departmental selection committees headed by Vice-Chancellors of state universities. The selection was to be conducted solely through a multiple-choice written test, dispensing with UGC-mandated parameters like academic record, research performance and interview/viva voce.

The case was first heard by a single judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, who, by an order passed in August 2022, quashed the entire recruitment process.

Subsequently, intra-court appeals were filed by the State of Punjab and the selected candidates. These were heard by a Division Bench of the same High Court, which, by its judgment in September 2024, reversed the single judge’s decision and upheld the recruitment.

Aggrieved by the order the petitioners approached Supreme Court.

The apex court observed that the State has failed to justify its deviation from standard recruitment norms, offering no valid reason for ignoring UGC Regulations or bypassing the Public Service Commission.

"Moreover, as discussed earlier, the reason for this departure were narrow political and clearly arbitrary," it added.

It held that the State cannot defend such an arbitrary practice under the garb of a policy decision and that a specialised body like UGC has prescribed a selection process for these posts, which was arbitrarily violated.

The Court reiterated that that UGC Regulations have a mandatory character and are binding on all universities, State or Central, that have opted to receive the financial assistance of the UGC under its scheme.

It further observed that a State has a duty and responsibility to act fairly and reasonably in terms of the mandate of Article 14 of the Constitution.

"Any decision taken by the State must be reasoned, and not arbitrary. This Court has consistently held that when a thing is done in a posthaste manner, mala fides would be presumed, and further that anything done in undue haste can also be termed as arbitrary and cannot be condoned in law."

Accordingly, Supreme Court restored the single judge’s verdict and quashed the entire selection. It directed the State to conduct a fresh recruitment process for these posts in line with the 2018 UGC Regulations.

Senior Advocates Nidhesh Gupta, Raju Ramachandran, Preetesh Kapur and Rekha Palli appeared for various petitioners. They were assisted by Advocates Chritarth Palli, Aanchal Jain, Karan Dewan and Aditi Gupta.

Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal, Rakesh Dwivedi and PS Patwalia appeared for private respondents.

Additional Advocate General Shadan Farasat, Deputy Advocate General Vivek Jain and Advocates Siddhant Sharma, Vikrant Pachnanda, Avinit Avasthi, Mukul Katyal, Amarjeet Singh, Talha Abdul Rahman, M Shaz Khan, Sudhanshu Tewari, Rafid Akhter, Faizan Ahmed, Mohit D Ram, Rajul Shrivastav and Nayan Gupta appeared for the State of Punjab.

[Read Judgment]