A part-time lecturer’s 906 teaching hours do not satisfy the one-year experience requirement.

The respondents advertised Training Officer posts, including Training Officer (Electrician), and required candidates with a degree in the relevant trade or faculty to have one year’s teaching experience. The petitioner, who applied for the Electrician post and appeared in the merit list and document verification, had worked as a Part Time Lecturer (Electrical) at a Government Polytechnic. Her experience certificate recorded her periods of engagement, but a subsequent memo quantified her teaching experience as 906 hours. The respondents rejected her candidature for insufficient experience.

She challenged that rejection under Article 226, arguing that instructions setting hourly thresholds for Guest Lecturers did not apply to her as a Part Time Lecturer.

1. Whether the petitioner demonstrated that she possessed the educational qualification relevant to determining the required period of teaching experience.

2. Whether 906 hours of teaching as a Part Time Lecturer satisfied the advertisement’s minimum experience requirement, and whether the hourly thresholds prescribed for Guest Lecturers applied to her.

Article 226 of the Constitution permits judicial review of recruitment decisions for illegality or arbitrariness. The applicable advertisement prescribed teaching-experience requirements according to qualification: one year for degree holders, two years for diploma holders, and three years for ITI certificate holders.

Directorate instructions provided that Guest Lecturer training work exceeding 1,200 but below 2,400 hours counted as one year’s experience, work exceeding 2,400 but below 3,600 hours counted as two years, and 3,600 hours or more counted as three years. The Court treated Guest Lecturers and Part Time Lecturers as alike for this purpose because both perform temporary work and are paid honorarium on an hourly basis.

The petitioner did not plead or produce documentary evidence of her educational qualification, although the advertisement made the required experience period dependent on that qualification.

In any event, the memo from the Polytechnic recorded only 906 hours of teaching, below the 1,200-hour threshold for counting one year under the Directorate’s instructions. The Court rejected the distinction between Guest Lecturer and Part Time Lecturer, reasoning that their temporary, hourly-paid status was alike. It therefore found the petitioner had not established the requisite experience and that the rejection was not illegal or arbitrary.

The writ petition was dismissed, and any pending interlocutory applications were disposed of.