Chennai, Nov 9 The guest lecturers serving in Tamil Nadu’s government colleges have decided to approach the Supreme Court against the State Higher Education Department for its failure to implement a Madras High Court directive mandating permanent appointments.
According to V. Thangaraj, State President of the All Tamil Nadu Government Colleges UGC-Qualified Honorary Lecturers’ Association, as many as 1,146 honorary lecturers, who had participated in the certificate verification process in February 2021 following a government order, are still awaiting regular appointments despite a categorical High Court verdict in their favour.
“The government’s inaction has forced us to take legal recourse once again,” Thangaraj said.
Currently, there are around 7,800 honorary lecturers working on a consolidated pay basis across 171 arts, science, and education colleges in Tamil Nadu.
Thangaraj said the association will urge the apex court not only to ensure permanent jobs for the 1,146 lecturers who completed the verification process, but also to direct the government to pay all guest lecturers as per the UGC norms, which stipulate a minimum salary of Rs 50,000 per month.
At present, Tamil Nadu’s guest lecturers are paid Rs 25,000 per month, one of the lowest in the country. Thangaraj pointed out stark disparities among states: “In Kerala, guest lecturers are paid Rs 50,000; in Puducherry, Rs 40,000, and in Haryana, where ‘equal pay for equal work’ is followed, it’s Rs 57,700. Punjab and Delhi also pay around Rs 50,000. But in Tamil Nadu, despite having highly qualified faculty, remuneration remains abysmally low.”
Referring to a recent Madras High Court order issued in October 2025, Thangaraj noted that the court had strongly criticised the government’s policy of hiring UGC-qualified and doctorate-holding educators as “guest lecturers” on meagre consolidated pay.
“The court had clearly observed that these teachers, though labelled as temporary, are performing all the duties of regular lecturers and are being exploited under the guise of honorary appointments,” he said.
The association plans to file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court in the coming weeks, seeking both implementation of the High Court judgment and a revised pay structure for all honorary lecturers in the state’s higher education institutions.
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