Aamir Rashid Bhat & Ors. vs Union Territory Of Jammu & Kashmir & Ors.

Shri Ram Mohan Johri, Administrative Member

This is an Original Application filed by the applicants under Section-19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 seeking the following reliefs:-

The case of the applicants is that they were engaged for academic session 2025-26 pursuant to Advertisement Notice No. DC-HE/2025/AA/1205 dated 18.06.2025, issued in terms of Government Order No.137-JK(HE) of 2024 dated 01.03.2024. The said Government Order lays down the Guidelines governing engagement of Faculty of Academic Arrangement/Guest Faculty in Government Degree Colleges. Clause XVI thereof specifically provides that faculty on academic arrangement shall be for one academic session excluding winter vacations in Winter Zone Colleges and summer vacations in Summer Zone Colleges, while summer vacations in Winter Zone Colleges and winter vacations in Summer Zone Colleges shall be included.

The applicants contend that, being faculty of Winter Zone Colleges their engagement necessarily includes the summer vacation and, therefore could not have been brought to an end on 31.05.2026. It is further pleaded that academic arrangement faculty in similarly situated colleges of Kashmir Division have been permitted to continue till the end of the academic session and that the applicants too are entitled to similar treatment.

The respondents have opposed the claim and justified the impugned communication. However, no provision has been brought on record showing that, notwithstanding Clause XVI of Government Order No.137-JK(HE) of 2024, the engagement of faculty working in Winter Zone Colleges was liable to terminate on 31.05.2026.

During the pendency of the Original Application, this Tribunal, vide interim order dated 12.06.2026, permitted the applicants to continue their services in their respective colleges till 31.07.2026 for academic session 2025-26, as done in Srinagar Division. The applicants have accordingly continued to render their services.

We have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. The controversy is narrow and turns primarily upon the interpretation of Clause XVI of Government Order No.137-JK(HE) of 2024. The language of the said provision is clear. While winter vacation is excluded from the academic arrangement in a Winter Zone College, summer vacation is specifically included. The applicants admittedly belong to Winter Zone Colleges and their engagements for the academic session 2025-26 were made under the aforesaid Guidelines. Consequently, the respondents could not, by a subsequent communication, treat 31.05.2026 as the terminal date of their engagement by merely excluding the summer vacation, when the governing Guidelines expressly include the same.

The Advertisement Notice dated 18.06.2025 itself stipulated that the engagement for academic session 2025-26 would be governed by Government Order No.137-JK(HE) of 2024. Having invited applications and made engagements under the said Guidelines, the respondents are bound by their terms. An administrative communication cannot override or introduce a condition contrary to the governing Government Order. In the absence of any valid amendment or supersession of Clause XVI by the competent authority, the impugned communication, to the extent it curtails the applicants' engagement from 31.05.2026, cannot be sustained.

The applicant has placed reliance upon judgment of this Tribunal in Aakriti Manhas & Ors. v. Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir & Anr., O.A. No.957/2025, decided on 29.07.2026. In the said case, while considering the entitlement of faculty engaged on academic arrangement basis during institutional vacations, this Tribunal held that an institutional vacation is distinct from cessation of engagement and that, where the engagement continues, the vacation period cannot be treated as an artificial break in service. In the present case, the applicants have the additional advantage of the express provision contained in Clause XVI, which specifically includes summer vacation in the academic arrangement of Winter Zone Colleges.

The interim order dated 12.06.2026 is also consistent with the aforesaid interpretation. Since the applicants were engaged for academic session 2025-26 under the governing Guidelines and the summer vacation is expressly included therein, their continuation up to 31.07.2026 cannot be regarded as a fresh engagement but as continuation of the subsisting academic arrangement for the same academic session. The respondents are, therefore, liable to pay the admissible remuneration for the period during which the applicants continued under such arrangement.

So far as the prayer for automatic engagement in future academic sessions and regularisation of services is concerned, the same cannot be granted merely on the basis of past engagement or length of service. Engagement for a subsequent academic session remains subject to the applicable Guidelines and prescribed selection process. Likewise, no absolute restraint can be placed upon the respondents from undertaking recruitment or selection in accordance with law.

For the foregoing reasons, Communication No. WCP/NP/2026/391-92 dated 29.05.2026 is hereby quashed to the extent it directs cessation of the applicants' engagement with effect from 31.05.2026. The interim order dated 12.06.2026, whereby the applicants were permitted to continue their services in their respective colleges till 31.07.2026 for academic session 2025-26, is hereby made absolute. The applicants shall accordingly be treated as having continued in their respective academic arrangements up to 31.07.2026 for the academic session 2025-26.

The respondents shall release to the applicants the admissible remuneration for the period from 01.06.2026 to 31.07.2026 in accordance with the applicable Government Orders, Guidelines and terms of their engagement, within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.

The Original Application stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms. Pending miscellaneous applications shall also stand disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs.