SRINAGAR: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Jammu Bench, has quashed the Jammu and Kashmir Higher Education Department’s decision to terminate the engagement of 16 academic arrangement faculty members from May 31, 2026, and directed the authorities to release their admissible remuneration for June and July within eight weeks. The Tribunal held that summer vacation is expressly included in the academic arrangement of winter-zone colleges under the applicable government guidelines, entitling the faculty members to continue till July 31 for the 2025-26 academic session.
In its order dated September 18, 2026, in Original Application No. 61/883/2026, a bench comprising Administrative Member Ram Mohan Johri and Judicial Member Diwakar Singh made absolute its interim order permitting the applicants to continue in their respective colleges until July 31, 2026. The order also directed that they be treated as having continued in their academic arrangements up to that date.
The case was filed by 16 faculty members engaged in government degree colleges across Jammu division, challenging Communication No. WCP/NP/2026/391-92 dated May 29, 2026, which directed cessation of their engagements with effect from May 31. They were represented by advocate N D Qazi, while the respondents, including the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir through the Higher Education Department, were represented by Additional Advocate General Sudesh Magotra.
The applicants had been engaged for the 2025-26 academic session pursuant to Advertisement Notice No. DC-HE/2025/AA/1205 dated June 18, 2025, issued under Government Order No. 137-JK(HE) of 2024 dated March 1, 2024.
The dispute centred on Clause XVI of the March 1, 2024, government order, which governs academic arrangement and guest faculty engagements in government degree colleges. The provision stipulates that engagements in winter-zone colleges cover one academic session, excluding winter vacations but including summer vacations.
The applicants argued that their engagements could not lawfully be terminated on May 31 because the guidelines specifically included summer vacation. They also contended that academic arrangement faculty in similarly situated colleges in Kashmir Division had been allowed to continue until the end of the academic session and sought equal treatment.
The Tribunal found that the respondents had not produced any provision authorising the termination of winter-zone faculty engagements on May 31, notwithstanding Clause XVI. It observed that the authorities, having made the engagements under the 2024 government order, were bound by its terms.
The bench held that an administrative communication could not override the governing government order or introduce a condition contrary to it in the absence of a valid amendment or supersession by the competent authority.
The Tribunal also referred to its July 29, 2026, judgment in Aakriti Manhas & Ors. v. Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir & Anr., O.A. No. 957/2025, which held that an institutional vacation is distinct from cessation of engagement and cannot be treated as an artificial break in service where the engagement continues.
The bench clarified that the applicants’ continuation until July 31 was not a fresh engagement but a continuation of their existing academic arrangement for the 2025-26 session. It directed the respondents to release their admissible remuneration for the period from June 1 to July 31, 2026, in accordance with the applicable government orders, guidelines and engagement terms, within eight weeks of receiving a certified copy of the order.
However, the Tribunal declined to grant the applicants automatic engagement for future academic sessions or regularisation of their services merely on the basis of past engagement or length of service. It held that future engagements would remain subject to the applicable guidelines and prescribed selection process. It also declined to impose an absolute restraint on recruitment or selection conducted in accordance with law.
The 16 applicants are Aamir Rashid Bhat, Dr Sajad Ahmad Mir, Dr Tariq Ahmad Zai, Dr Aadil Yousuf Tantray, Dr Pawan Kumar, Lucky Sharma, Sumeer Ahmad Mir, Naseer Ahmad Dar, Sheenam Faiz, Rafia Akhter, Dr Nasir Rashid, Dr Anju Devi, Dr Altaf ul Rehman, Suhail Yousuf, Dr Shiraz Akhter and Feroz Ahmed Dar. They were serving at Government Degree Colleges in Doda, Kishtwar, Kastigarh, Kotranka, Dudu Basantgarh, Padder and Bhaderwah.
The respondents in the case included the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir through the Commissioner/Secretary to Government, Higher Education Department; Director Colleges, J&K; Nodal Principal, Jammu Division Colleges; and the principals of Government Degree Colleges at Doda, Kishtwar, Kastigarh, Dudu Basantgarh, Kotranka and Padder.
The Tribunal disposed of the original application in these terms, also disposing of pending miscellaneous applications, with no order as to costs.
