The main legal point established in the judgment is that the appointment of guest faculty was not on ad-hoc basis and they could not claim parity with regular Assistant Professors.

N.K. Gupta, J.

The present order shall govern the disposal of Writ Appeals No. 386/2016, 387/2016, 49/2017, 52/2017 and 53/2017, whereby a similar fact in issue is to be considered in all such appeals.

2. In Writ Appeals No. 386/2016 and 387/2016, the State of Madhya Pradesh and Jan Bhagidari Samiti have challenged the judgment dated 29.09.2016 passed by the single Bench of this Court in W.P. No. 4716/2016, whereby the petitioners of that petition were granted relief that they are entitled to continue to work on their respective posts till regular selections are made and they are also entitled to get salary in accordance with University Grant Commission circular issued in February, 2010.

3. Writ Appeals No. 49/2017 and 52/2017 have been filed by Jan Bhagidari Samiti and the State against the judgment dated 29.09.2016 passed in W.P. No. 5326/2016, where the petitioners of writ petition were granted a similar relief as it was granted in W.P. No. 4716/2016.

4. W.A. No. 53/2017 has been preferred by the State against the judgment dated 29.09.2010 passed by the single Bench of this Court in W.P. No. 5145/2016, where the concerned petitioners were granted the similar relief as of W.P. No. 4716/2016.

5. Facts of the case, in short, are that the various petitioners were appointed as guest faculty in the various subjects in various colleges by the concerned Jan Bhagidari Samiti for a period of 11 months according to their subjects. Thereafter, Jan Bhagidari Samiti has floated an advertisement for filling of such posts for the academic year 2015-2016. The petitioners have challenged the advertisement issued by the concerned Jan Bhagidari Samiti claiming parity with the regular faculty and, therefore, it was prayed that they be permitted to continue to work on their respective posts till regular selections are made and to get equivalent pay to that of a regular faculty.

6. The single judge after considering the arguments advanced by the parties accepted all the three writ petitions and granted the relief as mentioned above.

7. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties at length.

8. In these cases, the relief sought by the petitioners depends upon the judgment passed by the Apex Court in case of "Hargurpratap Singh v. State of Punjab and others" [(2007) 13 SCC 292], in which it is held that one ad-hoc arrangement should not be required to be displaced by another ad-hoc arrangement, which is not at all appropriate. A small portion of Para 3 of that judgment is reproduced as under :-

"......It is clear that though the appellants may not be entitled to regular appointment as such it cannot be said that they be not be entitled to the minimum of the pay scale nor that they should not be continue till regular incumbents are appointed. The course adopted by the High Court is to displace one ad-hoc arrangement by another adhoc arrangement which is not at all appropriate for these persons who have gained experience which will be more beneficial and useful to the colleges concerned rather than to appoint persons afresh on ad-hoc basis....."

9. In the light of aforesaid order passed by the Apex Court in Hargurpratap Singh (Supra), it is to be examined as to whether the appointment of the petitioners was on ad-hoc basis. In this connection, learned Additional Advocate General has invited the attention of this Court to the order dated 16.11.2016 passed by single Judge of this Court at Indore Bench in W.P. No. 4567/2015, 4568/2016, 4569/2016, 4570/2016 and 4571/2016 in which the order passed by the Apex Court in case of Hargurpratap Singh (supra) was considered in detail. A small portion of that order on Page 4 may be reproduced as under:-

The aforesaid judgment makes it very clear that Teachers in the aforesaid case who were working on ad-hoc basis and they were being replaced by another ad-hoc arrangement, whereas, in the present case, every year an advertisement is issued inviting applications for guest faculty lecturers and it is purely a te