Srinagar, Oct 28: The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has restrained the Jammu and Kashmir Government from replacing two guest lecturers at Kashmir Government Polytechnic College, Gogjibagh, Srinagar, with another set of temporary faculty, reiterating that “ad hoc cannot replace ad hoc”.

Justice Rajesh Sekhri passed the directions while allowing a writ petition filed by Shaika Hassan and Syed Majid Ali, who were engaged as guest lecturers in Electronics and Communications and Medical Lab Technology, respectively, for the August–December 2024 academic session following a formal selection process.
Kashmir Dot Com
The petitioners approached the court after apprehending that the college authorities intended to disengage them and appoint a fresh batch of temporary guest lecturers in their place.
Opposing the plea, the Skill Development Department argued that their engagements were temporary and specialised in nature, with remuneration paid on a consolidated basis. The government also submitted that the lecturers had signed undertakings stating that they would not claim regularisation or permanent absorption.
The court, however, held that a temporary employee cannot ordinarily be replaced by another temporary employee and that such an arrangement can be substituted through a regular selection process.
Relying on Supreme Court judgments, Justice Sekhri observed that replacing one temporary arrangement with another could amount to arbitrary state action and violate the constitutional guarantees of equality under Articles 14 and 16.
The court emphasised that the government, as a model employer, must avoid arbitrary hiring practices that perpetuate uncertainty for employees when the institutional requirement for their services continues.
It directed the authorities to allow the petitioners to continue in their respective disciplines, with all existing benefits under the rules, for as long as the institutional requirement exists. The government was specifically restrained from replacing them through a similar ad hoc or contractual arrangement.
Kashmir Dot Com
The court clarified, however, that their continuation would remain subject to good conduct and satisfactory performance. It also made clear that the order would not prevent the government from filling the posts through a regular recruitment process.
The ruling does not confer any automatic right to permanent appointment or regularisation upon the petitioners.
The decision reiterates the legal principle that temporary appointments should not become a revolving-door arrangement in which one set of workers is replaced by another without regular recruitment, provided the original engagements were made through a proper selection process.