Madhya Pradesh High Court rejects guest lecturers' plea for regularisation in government colleges

13 October 2026

A division bench of Chief Justice Alpesh Y. Kogje and Justice Vivek Jain at the Jabalpur Bench rejected a plea by guest faculty lecturers in government colleges for regularisation of their services, holding that they have no vested right of regularisation. The Court noted that the State regularly advertises Assistant Professor posts through the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission, so guest faculty had opportunities to apply. It held that Clause 6.1 of the circular of 5 October 2023, which raised guest faculty honorarium and capped monthly pay at Rs 50,000, does not conflict with Clause 13 of the UGC Regulations, 2018, because guest faculty were not appointed through the same selection process as regular or contractual teachers. The State's concessions in recruitment, including 25 per cent horizontal reservation and age relaxation, were held to be sufficient relaxations and reservations. The Court directed the State to offer a displaced guest faculty member a position at the nearest available college for their subject on disengagement. The case is Abha Agrawal v. State of Madhya Pradesh, WP 16358 of 2024, reported as 2026 LiveLaw (MP) 413.