The authority of the University to appoint Guest Faculty and the interpretation of the appointment guidelines as per UGC regulations.

G.S. SANDHAWALIA, J.

1. This judgment shall dispose of CWP-15267 & 15273-2017 and COCP-2773-2017, involving common questions of law and facts. However, to dictate orders, facts have been taken from CWP-15267-2017 titled Gaganjot Kaur Vs. Panjab University & others.

2. The petitioner seeks a writ of mandamus under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, to allow her to continue as Guest Faculty till regular appointments are made. Further, a writ in the nature of certiorari is sought to quash the practice of the respondent-University to replace the petitioner with similarly situated Guest Faculty by issuance of advertisement dated 07.06.2017 (Annexure P-5) and further direction for restraining them from making fresh appointments against the post occupied by the petitioner and to continue her on the said post.

3. The case of the petitioner is that the respondent-University had advertised the post of Guest Factuality in Punjabi in the Institute of Educational Technology and Vocational Education on 01.06.2016 (Annexure P-1). Resultantly, she being duly qualified, had applied for the said post and had been selected and was issued appointment letter dated 07.11.2016 (Annexure P-2). The selection was as per the guidelines and there was no dispute regarding her qualifications which were attached as Annexure P-3 Colly. Her work being satisfactory there was no complaint against her. She completed her first semester of teaching as Guest Faculty and was again issued appointment letter for the next semester on 04.01.2017 (Annexure P-4). Accordingly, the advertisement dated 07.06.2017 (Annexure P-5) was subject matter of challenge on the ground that the University was not authorized to replace the petitioner with another set of similarly situated persons, keeping in view the judgment of the Apex Court in Hargurpratap Singh Vs. State of Punjab & others 2007 (13) SCC 292 which has been followed by other judgments of this Court in Annexures P-7 to P-10. Interim order dated 17.07.2017 had been passed in favour of the petitioner that the respondents would not fill up the post by similarly situated person.

4. COCP-2773-2017 has, thus, been filed on the ground that there was violation of the orders and one Devinder Singh and Principal Kaur had been appointed against the post of the petitioners. Similarly, in CWP-15273-2017, filed by Jagdeep Kumar, the post is of English in the same Institute and with the same University.

5. The defence of the respondent-University is that the first advertisement dated 01.06.2016 was only for one academic session 2016-17, which is also clear from the appointment letter (Annexure P-2). The second appointment was for the second term (January to May, 2017) or till the post was filled up by regular appointment, whichever was earlier. It was, accordingly, pleaded that the selection was not on regular basis and the Selection Committee for regular appointment was regulated by Regulation 6.1 of Chapter V-A of Panjab University Calendar, Vol-I. The petitioner was not selected by any such Selection Committee and was selected by the Selection Committee by walk-in-interview, for the posts, for one academic session. The number of applicants were also limited and therefore, the petitioner had no legal and vested right and she was also bound by the principle of estoppel, acquiescence and she could not claim any lien as per the said appointment letter. It was further clarified that the advertisement was issued inadvertently, without looking at the work-force available, as per the University rules and regulations and instructions dated 13.09.2016 (Annexure R-2). Firstly, the posts were to be allocated to the Regular Faculty, then to Senior Research Fellows/Junior Research Fellows/ Research Scholars, as per the UGC Guidelines and the instructions of the Government of India. Resultantly, advertisement had been withdrawn by the Academic/Administrative Committee of the respondent-Institute on 15.06.2017, much before the filing of