In a peculiar case involving a job selection mix-up, the Uttarakhand High Court has directed Kumaon University to present documents related to a 2005 appointment after a public interest litigation (PIL) raised claims that the wrong person was selected for the position of lecturer in the university’s physics department.
The PIL was filed by Pawan Kumar Mishra, who alleged that despite his selection for the lecturer role, Pramod Kumar Mishra, a person with a strikingly similar name, was appointed instead. Both individuals reportedly used the shorthand “P K Mishra” for their names, leading to confusion during the selection process.
Pawan Kumar Mishra, who resides in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, claimed that the appointment was a result of a deliberate mistake or collusion involving the university’s officials. He named the then registrar, the dean of science, the head of the physics department, and other university employees as being complicit in the alleged wrongdoing. According to the petition, Pramod Kumar Mishra, the man who was wrongly appointed, is still serving as a lecturer at the university.
The petitioner asserted that he only discovered the alleged fraud in November 2024, nearly two decades after the event. Despite sending letters to the university’s vice-chancellor and even to the chief minister of Uttarakhand, his requests for justice reportedly went unanswered.
In response to the PIL, a division bench led by Chief Justice Guhanathan Narendar and Justice Alok Mehra instructed the Kumaon University to submit all relevant documents concerning the 2005 appointment. The court’s order signals its intent to scrutinize the matter, as the alleged mistake involving similar names has raised concerns over transparency and fairness in university recruitment practices.
