Senior posts must be filled by regular substantive appointment within six weeks; interim in-charge arrangements may continue meanwhile.

The applicant, Dr. Altaf Hussain Chalkoo, was a Professor and Head of the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology at Government Dental College, Srinagar.

He challenged Government Order No. 349-JK (HME) of 2025 dated 8 May 2025, by which Dr. Sandeep Kaur Bali, Head of the Department of Prosthodontics, was assigned the look-after charge of Principal, Government Dental College, Srinagar, in addition to her own duties.

The applicant claimed a preferential right to be considered for the post and contended that even an interim or look-after arrangement ought to have been made after assessing the suitability of all eligible candidates, including through consideration of their Annual Performance Reports.

The official respondents stated that the arrangement was temporary and would continue only until the post was filled on a regular basis.

The interim order dated 21 May 2025 had made the impugned arrangement subject to the outcome of the O.A.

1. Whether the assignment of the look-after charge of Principal to respondent no. 3 was contrary to the applicable service rules and Government instructions, including the instructions appended to Article 85 of the J&K Civil Service Regulations?

2. Whether the respondents were required to undertake an expeditious process for making a regular, substantive appointment to the post of Principal from among eligible Professors in accordance with the applicable recruitment rules?

3. Whether the existing look-after arrangement should be disturbed pending completion of the regular selection process?

The Tribunal applied the J&K Dental Education (Dental College) Gazetted Service Recruitment Rules, 1993, under which the post of Principal, Government Dental College, is to be filled from the feeding post of Professor through selection of a suitable candidate by the Establishment-cum-Selection Committee.

Professors possessing ten years’ cumulative service as Associate Professor and Professor, including five years’ exclusive service as Professor, were identified as eligible for consideration.

The Tribunal also referred to the Government instructions appended to Article 85 of the J&K Civil Service Regulations, relied upon by the applicant, and emphasised the principle that senior posts should not continue to be manned through ad hoc arrangements where a regular appointment can be made in accordance with law.

The Tribunal noted that the impugned arrangement was expressly temporary and intended to continue only until the post was filled on a regular basis.

Since the recruitment rules contemplated selection from among eligible Professors by the Establishment-cum-Selection Committee, the competent authority was directed to proceed with a regular substantive appointment rather than perpetuate the look-after arrangement.

The Tribunal did not determine that the applicant was legally entitled to the post or that respondent no. 3’s interim assignment was substantively invalid.

Instead, balancing the need to avoid ad hocism with administrative continuity, it directed the respondents to complete the regular appointment process expeditiously and preserved the existing arrangement until then.

The competent authority was directed to endeavour to fill the post of Principal, Government Dental College, Srinagar, on a regular substantive basis and in accordance with the applicable rules within six weeks.

Until completion of that process, the position of respondent no. 3 as in-charge Principal was not to be disturbed.

The authority was permitted to seek an extension from the Tribunal if the process could not be completed within the prescribed period for appropriate reasons.