The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement for conducting regular selections for the post of Asstt. Professor in accordance with the UGC Regulations of 2010, and the emphasis on transparent and fair selection processes based on merit and eligibility criteria.

JUDGMENT

Sanjeev Prakash Sharma, J. - Both the above titled Writ Petitions are being decided together as the questions of law and facts are almost similar. Facts of the case are, however, being noticed from the Civil Writ Petition No. 23738 of 2011 filed by Garima Sood and others.

2. The petitioners Garima Sood, Ramandeep Kumar and Preeti have preferred this writ petition stating that they are fully eligible for appointment on the post of Lecturers and Asstt. Professors as all of them have successfully passed Junior Research Fellow Test from CSIR and UGC. The grievances raised in both the present petitions are with regard to the appointment and continuation of part time Lecturers against the large number of regular sanctioned posts. It is their contention that the respondents have appointed the part time Lecturers and have continued them for long and now they are in the process of regularizing their services in violation of the law laid down by the Apex Court in Secretary, State of Karnatka and others vs. Uma Devi and others, (2006) 4 SCC 1 and also by this Court in Kulbhushan Singh v. State of Punjab reported in (2001) 4 SCT 852.

3. It is contended that in the connected writ petition i.e CWP No. 22673 of 2011, petitioner Didar Singh has cleared his UGC NET qualification and also completed his Ph.D in 2013 and he also prays for restraining the Government from taking a decision to regularize the part time adhoc Letcurers working in the Govt. Colleges.

4. The facts which need to be noticed are that on 11.08.2001, an advertisement was issued by the Punjab Public Service Commission for filling up 274 posts of Lecturers in the College Cadre. The selection process was completed and so far as the petitioner Didar Singh is concerned, he was also selected under the said selection process. However, before appointments could be made, the recruitment and selection process was challenged before this Court. The said selections were challenged in CWP No.6615 of 2002 titled Common Cause Forum, Punjab v. State of Punjab and others and in this regard vide order dated 29.04.2002 directed the Govt. not to appoint any candidate who is awaiting appointments without prior permission of the Court and accordingly, the Government issued an order on 12.05.2002 restraining appointments on regular basis. The Punjab Public Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as 'PPSC' for short) accordingly instructed to hold interviews in abeyance during the pendency of this writ petition for the posts of Lecturers in various subjects vide order dated 16.01.2003. In Amrit Pal Singh and others v. State of Punjab and others and in Civil Writ Petition No.1166 of 2004 titled Navleet Kaur and others v. State of Punjab and others, similar order was passed in relation to other subjects also on 10.02.2004. In several other subjects, similar orders were passed by High Court and therefore, petitioners could not be appointed.

5. In order to overcome the paucity of teachers, the State Government had appointed part time Lecturers and Guest Faculty Lecturers who allegedly did not fulfill the minimum requisite eligibility criteria laid down by the UGC. The Guest Faculty Lecturers were being paid Rs.175/- per hours, subject to maximum of Rs.7000/- per month. The part time Lecturers were allegedly appointed by the Principals without following a fair selection process. It is alleged that out of 260 Lecturers appointed in the aforesaid manner, only 100 candidates possessed minimum requisite eligible criteria of having possessed UGC NET examination or possessing Ph.D as per 2009 notification. It is further stated that an advertisement was again published by the PPSC on 04.04.2008. Against the same, COCP No.117 of 2009 was filed and it was stated that there were 293 part time Lecturers working in the different Government Colleges. In another COCP No.1830 of 2009, affidavit was filed by the Department of Higher Education stating that PPSC has been advised not to proceed further as there was