Chandigarh, July 22 -- The recruitment of 1,158 assistant professors in Punjab's government colleges, which were struck down by the Supreme Court recently, was carried out despite a clear warning from the then Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) vice-chancellor Jaspal Singh, whose opinion was sought by the state higher education department in 2021.

In a stinging indictment of the recruitment exercise carried out by the then Charanjit Singh Channi-led Congress in the run-up to the 2022 Punjab assembly polls, the Supreme Court, on July 18, held the selection was not just arbitrary but also appeared driven by 'narrow political gains' aimed at garnering electoral advantage.

"The entire process is arbitrary and was followed not in the interest ...