Shimla, December 11
Calling out the State Tourism Department for adopting “two different yardsticks” for similarly placed employees, the Himachal Pradesh High Court on Thursday ordered the regularisation of five Teaching Associates working at the State Institute of Hotel Management (SIHM), Dharamshala.
Justice Sandeep Sharma quashed the Governing Body’s 1 August 2022 decision to retrench the teachers and directed the State to regularise them under the government’s 2021 policy, which mandates regularisation after two years of contractual service.
‘Why one rule for Hamirpur and another for Dharamshala?’
The Court observed that Teaching Associates at SIHM Hamirpur—appointed through an identical process and possessing the same qualifications—had already been regularised under government policy.
However, their counterparts in Dharamshala were denied the same benefit on the ground that they had not cleared the National Hospitality Teacher Eligibility Test (NHTET), a mandatory requirement introduced later.
The Bench noted that even the Hamirpur faculty had not cleared NHTET when they were regularised.
The Court termed the action “arbitrary” and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.
NHTET excuse rejected
The Tourism Department argued that regularising the Dharamshala teachers without NHTET would risk the institute’s provisional affiliation with the National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology (NCHMCT).
Dismissing this, the Court pointed to a 2017 NCHMCT communication that had withdrawn the compulsory NHTET clause for initial faculty appointments in Food Craft Institutes, and noted that the Dharamshala faculty had been appointed before degree courses were introduced in 2022.
The Court clarified that while they must be regularised as Teaching Associates, they cannot teach degree classes until they clear NHTET.
Court invokes principles of equity
Even though the petitioners had not specifically challenged the 2022 retrenchment resolution, the Court invoked the principle of “moulding relief” to ensure substantial justice, noting that the teachers were still working under a status quo order issued by a Division Bench in August 2022.
The Court ordered the State to consider regularising the five Teaching Associates strictly under the 28 December 2021 regularisation policy.
