Guest teachers serving against sanctioned vacancies must continue until regular recruitment.

The petitioners were working as Assistant Teachers in schools run by the Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society (KREIS).

They sought continuation in service against sanctioned vacant posts until regular recruitment under the 2021 Amendment Regulations, payment of the applicable pay scale and arrears, and service weightage in future recruitment.

They relied on a coordinate Bench decision in W.P. No. 7047/2023 and connected matters, decided 21 February 2024, which directed continuation of similarly situated guest teachers until regular recruitment.

The Court treated the present lis as identical to that decision.

1. Whether the petitioners, working as teachers against sanctioned vacant posts, were entitled to continuation until regular recruitment under the 2021 Amendment Regulations.

2. Whether the petitioners were entitled to the prescribed pay scale and arrears, and to service weightage in future regular recruitment. The order did not separately determine these claims.

The Court applied the principle, articulated in the coordinate Bench decision in W.P. No. 7047/2023 and connected matters, that temporary or ad hoc employees should not be replaced by another set of temporary or ad hoc employees, and that guest teachers serving against sanctioned vacancies should continue until those vacancies are filled through regular recruitment.

The applicable recruitment framework was the Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society (Cadre and Recruitment) (Amendment) Regulations, 2021.

The petition invoked Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution, but the order’s substantive reasoning rested on the coordinate Bench decision.

The Court found that the issue was identical to the one decided by the coordinate Bench, which had directed continuation of guest teachers against sanctioned vacancies until regular recruitment.

It therefore followed that decision and granted the same continuation relief under the 2021 Amendment Regulations.

The order did not separately analyse or grant the petitioners’ claims for pay-scale arrears or service weightage.

Pending interlocutory applications were disposed of as not surviving for consideration.