IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH

AT GWALIOR

BEFORE

HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE MILIND RAMESH PHADKE

WRIT PETITION No. 21982 of 2024

CHATURBHUJ AHIRWAR AND OTHERS

Versus

THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND OTHERS

Appearance:

Shri Sankalp Sharma - Advocate for the petitioners. Shri Rohit Shrivastava - Panel Lawyer for the State.

Shri Ankur Mody - Advocate for the respondent No.4.

Shri Nirmal Kumar Shrama - Advocate for the respondent No.6.

RESERVED ON :- 09/10/2025 DEIVERED ON :- 5/01/2026.

ORDER Scheduled Caste (SC) category, had applied for the post of Lecturer pursuant to Recruitment Notification No. Estt./Recruitment/2007/2126, dated 09.02.2007 issued by respondent No.4. Upon due selection, he was appointed to the post of Lecturer (Electronics and Telecommunication) under the SC category at S.A.T.I. Polytechnic College, Vidisha, vide order dated 13.10.2007 and had joined his duties on 05.10.2007. Since then, he has been continuously serving on the said post without any adverse remark.

The present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has

been filed by the petitioners No.1 and 2, namely, Chaturbhuj Ahirwar and

Prakash Kumar Maravi seeking following reliefs:

a) Allow the present petition and to set aside the orders

dated 16.07.2024 (Annexure P/1 and P/2) passed by the

respondent no.04.

b) Any other relief, which this Hon'ble Court may

deem fit and proper may also be given to the petitioner along

with costs.

Short facts of the case are that the petitioner No.1, who belongs to the

The petitioner No.2, who belongs to the Scheduled Tribe (ST)

category, had also applied pursuant to the same recruitment notification and was duly selected and appointed to the post of Lecturer (Information Technology) under the ST category at S.A.T.I. Polytechnic College, Vidisha, vide order dated 03.10.2007. He had joined his duties on 10.10.2007 and has been continuously serving since then.

Vide Office Order dated 30.08.2022, the intake of the Information Technology course was merged with the Computer Science and Engineering course with effect from the academic session 2020–21.

Respondent No.4 had issued Recruitment Notification No.

Estt./Recruitment/2007/2126 dated 09.02.2007 for appointment of Lecturers in various departments including Electronics and Telecommunication and Information Technology, pursuant to which the petitioners applied, were selected, and were appointed vide appointment orders dated 03.10.2007. On 16.07.2024, respondent No.04 had passed impugned orders discontinuing the services of the petitioners. The services of petitioner No.1 were discontinued on the ground that the Electronics and Telecommunication course is a self-

financed course for which no grant-in-aid was being received from the State Government and due to poor admissions for the last ten years and heavy financial losses, the Board of Governors of the institute, vide resolution dated 09.07.2024, decided to close the said course with immediate effect from the academic year 2024–2025. On the said basis, the services of petitioner No.01 were discontinued with immediate effect. Similarly, the services of petitioner No.2 were discontinued on the ground that the Information Technology course is a self-financed course for which no grant- in-aid was being received from the State Government and due to poor admissions, the I.T. branch had already been closed in the academic year 2021–22. It was further held that owing to heavy losses, the Board of Governors, vide resolution dated 09.07.2024, decided to discontinue his services with immediate effect. Being aggrieved by the arbitrary, illegal, and mala fide action of the respondents in discontinuing the services of the petitioners without following due process of law, they have approached this Court by filing the present writ petition.

Learned counsel for the petitioners had submitted that the impugned orders dated 16.07.2024 (Annexure P/1 and Annexure P/2) were per se illegal, arbitrary, unreasonable, and contrary to the rule of law, as they have