Back in September 2024, the High Court had ordered that only candidates who fulfil the UGC norms should be appointed as guest lecturers in degree colleges.
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The Karnataka government has decided to continue all the guest lecturers of government first grade colleges of the State who had worked in the year 2024-25 until the completion of the current semester of the 2025-26 academic year.This will be subject to the observations of the Karnataka High Court’s interim order on September 9, 2025, and workload in various colleges, said the government order.Back in September, 2024, the High Court had ordered that only candidates who fulfil the UGC norms should be appointed as guest lecturers in degree colleges. The government had not hired any guest lecturers from the beginning of this semester, awaiting the final order of the court. The 2024 order was challenged, but the court upheld the earlier order in its judgement on September 9 this year.Meanwhile, there were protests by various student organisations, as classes in many colleges had come to a standstill because of shortage of teachers and absence of guest lecturers.Legal opinionThe government took the decision on hiring the lecturers back for this semester as per the legal opinion of the Additional Advocate General of the State.Students organisations, including All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDS) and others have welcomed the government’s decisions to restore guest lecturers. “AIDSO welcomes the government’s response to the cries of the students. However, we also strongly demand that examinations be conducted only after a minimum of 30 hours of teaching per subject has been completed,” said the organisation in a release. Published - September 30, 2025 12:28 am IST
