MOHD ANSARI AND ORS vs DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Judgment text excerpt

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Reserved on: 7th January, 2026. Pronounced on: 10th March, 2026. Uploaded on: 10th March, 2026. + W.P.(C) 10830/2020, CM APPL. 33969/2020, CM APPL. 74004/2025 MOHD ANSARI AND ORS .....Petitioners Through: Mr. Puneet Rathi and Mr. Md. Shahrukh Qureshi, Advocates. Versus DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY .....Respondent Through: Mrs. Avnish Ahlawat, SC for GNCTD with Mr. N.K. Singh, Ms. Aliza Alam and Mr. Mohnish Sehrawat, Advocates. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV NARULA JUDGMENT SANJEEV NARULA, J.: 1. This writ petition, instituted by contractual employees of Delhi Technological University1, invite adjudication on a question that frequently recurs in public employment: whether persons engaged through a public- facing selection process and continued for years together against work of a perennial character can be kept indefinitely on contractual terms, or whether the Constitution’s guarantees under Articles 14 and 16 require the employer to bring such engagements to a lawful closure by regularising eligible Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed W.P.(C) 10830/2020 Page 1 of 15 By:NITIN KAIN Signing Date:10.03.2026 19:37:01 incumbents in accordance with the settled principles. The Petitioners seek a writ of mandamus directing the University to treat them as regular incumbents or, in the alternative, to consider and effect their regularisation with reference to their length of service. The University resists the claim, invoking the discipline of Secretary, State of Karnataka & Ors v. Umadevi (3) & Ors.2 and asserting that contractual engagement, however long continued, confers no right to absorption and cannot be converted into a mode of recruitment. 2. The University commenced recruitment for various administrative, ministerial an