What's in a name? A 20-year old job selection prompts challenge in Uttarakhand HC

Nainital: The Uttarakhand High Court has asked the Kumaon University to place on record documents over an appointment it made two decades ago after a PIL claimed a wrong person was selected instead of the right candidate.

Pawan Kumar Mishra claimed in his PIL that despite his selection for the post of lecturer in the physics department at the university in 2005, one Pramod Kumar Mishra was recruited in place of him as he had a similar name.

Both of them wrote the short for their names as P K Mishra.

While hearing the PIL, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Guhanathan Narendar and Justice Alok Mehra directed the university to present before it all the documents related to the appointment.

The petitioner, who lives in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, alleged the appointment was made in collusion with the then registrar, dean (science), the head of department ( physics) and other employees of the university.

The man appointed in place of the selected candidate is still teaching physics at the University, the plea added.

The petitioner said he learnt of the alleged fraud about 20 years later in November, 2024, and though he shot off a letter to the vice-chancellor of the university and the chief minister "demanding justice", it bore no result.