Srinagar- The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has upheld as“unexceptionable” its single bench's verdict that an ad hoc, contractual, or academic arrangement appointee cannot be replaced by a similar arrangement for every academic session.

Disposing an appeal filed by the Kashmir University, a division bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Sanjay Parihar said that such appointees are entitled to continue till the posts against which such they have been engaged are filled up through a regular selection process.

However, the division Bench modified single bench's order with regard to the requirement of temporary faculty in the Department of Law, ruling that it would be appropriate to leave it to the Department concerned and the regulatory authority under the Advocates Act, 1961, i.e., the Bar Council of India, to take a call.

“Should the appellants (KU authorities) need the services of ad hoc, contractual, or academic arrangement appointees to supplement their existing core faculty, they shall be free to make such arrangements,” the division bench said. However, while doing so, they shall first offer these engagements to those who have already acquired requisite experience in teaching by rendering their services in earlier academic sessions.“That would benefit both the appellants (KU authorities) and the student community,” the Division Bench said.

The varsity, the Division bench said, shall refrain from replacing those who are in position or who are invited to work in such positions as contractual appointees, by making similar arrangements for meeting the same requirement by resorting to a change of nomenclature.

MENAFN08112025000215011059ID1110315143