Dehradun: A division bench of the Uttarakhand high court, comprising Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Subhash Upadhyay, disposed of a petition filed by Dr Ajit Kumar Sharma, a project officer (PO) in the department of history, ancient Indian history, culture and archaeology at Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University. He had challenged university circulars that classified his post as non-teaching and resulted in the withdrawal of the teaching work assigned to him.While recording that the post of PO is currently categorised as non-teaching and does not, by itself, confer a right to be assigned teaching duties, the court directed the central govt to take a final decision within three months on a pending proposal, recommended by the University Grants Commission, to grant assistant professor status to POs.
Sharma had challenged a circular issued on June 15, 2024, which stipulated that non-teaching staff, including POs, would be assigned duties strictly in accordance with their designated job responsibilities. It further stated that no documents or certificates describing the nature of duties or work experience would be issued to non-teaching staff if such documents portrayed them as teaching staff, citing potential administrative and legal complications.
He also challenged an amended circular dated Nov 11, 2025, issued in continuation of the earlier directive. The amended circular reiterated that no university authority would issue any document or certificate reflecting non-teaching staff as teaching staff and warned that any violation would render the signatory accountable. Following these circulars, a communication dated Nov 14, 2025, from the professor and head of the department informed Sharma that his teaching work stood withdrawn with immediate effect.
Sharma relied on a resolution passed in the university’s executive council meeting on March 1, 2020, which resolved to convert the posts of research officer/senior scientific officer and PO into assistant professor in the respective departments. The proposal was forwarded to the UGC on March 17, 2020. The UGC approved it at its 552nd meeting on Sept 8, 2021, and forwarded it to the central govt for consideration, where it remains pending.
He argued that while the proposal was under consideration, the university should not have withdrawn his teaching duties. He also sought a time-bound direction, stating that as a non-teaching employee he would retire in Oct 2026 at the age of 60, whereas teaching status would extend the retirement age to 65.
The court noted that it was undisputed that the post of PO is presently categorised as non-teaching. On that basis, it held that Sharma could not claim a right to teaching duties solely on the strength of the executive council’s recommendation.
However, accepting the submission that the UGC had recommended conferring assistant professor status on POs, the bench directed the centre to take a final decision within three months. Without expressing any opinion on the merits, the petition was disposed of with a direction to decide the matter in light of the UGC’s recommendation and the clarifications sought by the state govt on Jan 30, 2023.
