Judgment

Misra, J.-The aforesaid three appeals raise a common question whether the appointment of the ‘Evaluators’ and ‘Research Associates’ as Lecturers in the Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla was valid or not? These appeals, accordingly, are being disposed of by means of this common judgment. All the appellants in Civil Appeal No. 13709/96 were initially appointed as Research Associates. Some of them have already been appointed as Readers whose case is not in issue in these appeals. They have been working as such for the last about nine years. Since they were working for a long period the Executive Council of the aforesaid University by their Resolution dated 16th January, 1986, declared the cadre of Research Associate as wasting cadre. Hence on 30th May, 1986, by another Resolution stipulated that they may be designated as Lecturers. Their suitability for the post of Lecturers was to be ascertained through the Statutory Selection Committee con­fining the selection among the incumbent working on the post of Research Associates. Admittedly, all the appellants were working as Research Associate when the said Resolutions were passed. Later, they appeared before such Selection Comm