Punjab moves top court in assistant professors, librarians’ appointment case

Punjab's education minister seeks Supreme Court's modification of its order cancelling 1,158 assistant professors' appointments, citing student interests.

Punjab education minister Harjot Singh Bains on Monday said the state government moved the Supreme Court seeking a modification of its July 14 order that quashed the appointment of 1,158 assistant professors and librarians in government degree colleges in the state.

Punjab education minister Harjot Singh Bains has said the state government has requested the apex court to allow these assistant professors and librarians to continue for the time being. (Picture only for representational purpose)

In a post of X, Bains said the state government has requested the apex court to allow these assistant professors and librarians to continue for the time being. “The Punjab Govt has moved the Hon’ble Supreme Court seeking modification of its 14 July, 2025, orders — requesting that 1158 Assistant Professors and Librarians be allowed to continue for the time being in the interest of students in our govt colleges. Meanwhile, the state is also exploring all other legal possible remedies,” the minister wrote.

The Supreme Court had cancelled these appointments, observing that there is “total arbitrariness” in their selection that was carried out in violation of the University Grants Commission (UGC) norms.

A bench of justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran, in its order, set aside the September 2024 decision of the division bench of the Punjab and Haryana high court, which had upheld these appointments.

“In the case at hand, the state did not adhere to UGC regulations and took the posts out of the purview of the commission without following the procedure prescribed under the law. And this was done suddenly without any valid reason and thus, it would amount to arbitrariness and cannot be sustained in the eyes of law,” the bench said.

The top court had also directed the state government to initiate the recruitment process afresh as per the 2018 UGC regulations. The recruitment process was started in October 2021 when the Punjab director of higher education issued a public notice inviting online applications for these posts.