Kohima: The Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench, has declared hundreds of contractual appointments for Assistant Professors and Librarians in the Department of Higher Education unconstitutional. The ruling destroys two earlier judgments from 2022 and 2025 that blocked the Nagaland Net Qualified Forum (NNQF) from challenging the hiring practices on technical grounds.
The NNQF has fought this legal battle since 2019. They argue the state bypassed open advertisements to install candidates through the backdoor. The Forum claims these actions represent a "shocking affront to the fundamental right to equality (Article 14) and right to equality of opportunity (Article 16)."
Many appointees lacked the National Eligibility Test (NET) qualifications required by 2010 University Grants Commission regulations. The state routinely extended these yearly contracts to simulate permanent status. The court slammed this practice, noting the government ignored strict selection procedures mandated by law.
The division bench criticized the High Court's own past silence on these violations. Judges noted that the state only followed the first sentence of Regulation 13 while ignoring all other requirements. The bench mocked this selective compliance, stating, "It seems that the State of Nagaland had only taken cognizance of the first sentence of Regulation 13."
The court ordered an immediate stop to contract extensions. Officials must now either create proper posts for the Nagaland Public Service Commission or follow legal advertisement rules for future hires. The Forum hailed the decision as a victory for public transparency.
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