Hon’ble Manoj Misra, J.—The petitioners were appointed as Guest Lecturer on contract basis, session by session, in Gandhi Polytechnic, Muzaffarnagar (hereinafter referred to as the Institution), which is a privately managed polytechnic affiliated to the Board of Technical Education, U.P. and is on grant-in-aid. The institution is governed by U.P. Pravidhik Shiksha Adhiniyam, 1962 (hereinafter referred to as Act, 1962) and the regulations framed thereunder.

2. According to the petitioners, the petitioner No. 1 was appointed as a Guest Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering on 1.9.2012; the petitioner No. 2 was appointed on 7.9.2010 as a Guest Lecturer in Physics and both had been working as such till date. In respect of petitioner No. 2 it has been stated that he had been working in both shifts. It is claimed that the petitioners 1 and 2 both belong to the OBC (other backward classes) category. In so far as petitioner Nos. 3 and 4 are concerned, they belong to Scheduled Caste category. It has been claimed that petitioner No. 3 had been working as Guest Lecturer (Electrical Engineering) since 16.8.2010 whereas petitioner No. 4 had been working as a Guest Lecturer (Mechanical Engi