Members of the faculty in an engineering college cannot claim the right to remain in service till the age of superannuation once the unaided department, in which they worked, has been validly closed and posts are abolished, stated the High Court of Karnataka.
A division bench comprising Justice D.K. Singh and Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju made these observations while allowing an appeal filed by Malnad College of Engineering, Hassan.
However, the bench directed the college to pay ₹40 lakh each as financial assistance to the the faculty members taking note that they had worked for a long time in the college, and them losing their job before the age of superannuation due to closure of the department.
Single judge order
The college had appealed against a single judge’s December 2023 direction to continuing the services of the two professors till they attain superannuation age of 65 years as per regulations of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) despite winding up the Automobile Engineering Department.
