This happened when PU was rechristened "Timber Trail University". Prof V. J. Gupta, infamous for the fossil fraud, emerges as "Mr Gargi". One Vice-Chancellor becomes Prof Adamant, while his successor is called Prof Slumber. Name changes apart, the key players and the entire sequence of events are tabulated for a detailed analysis.

Researchers are given these facts and asked to analyse the problem. The analysis was first done at a "National Workshop on Case Study" at the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi, where researchers were asked to probe the sequence of events, identify the problems and recommend a strategy so that Timber Trail University can rise out of this slumber. The case now forms a part of the IIPA data bank and is meant for analysis in future workshops.

However more interestingly, it now forms a part of an official publication of Punjab University -- the Punjab University Law Review. A university which has always ducked when the word "fossil" is uttered, has now published the case in its prestigious journal and seems willing to do some introspection.

Authored by Prof D. N. Jauhar of the Department of Laws, PU, the case study narrates how politicisation of the campus and the infiltration of non-academicians on the campus led to a situation where action against the perpetrators of the fossil fraud became difficult.

The problems being faced by the university are identified in the case study itself, namely, the subversion of academics by corrupt politics, and the problem of fraudulent and recycled research.

A detailed analysis later, some strategies suggested for redemption include the restriction of role of non-academic outsiders and politicians on the campus, strict scrutiny of research, and making plagiarism an offence.

The case study makes interesting reading. Former Vice-Chancellor T. N. Kapoor can be easily identified as the Prof Slumber who "did not utter a word either for or against the resolution awarding minor punishment to Gargi" (read Prof V. J. Gupta). The dramatic sequence of events is recorded in a chronological order. How Gargi authored a hundred research papers, and earned the sobriquet of "airport professor". The allegations of fraudulent research by a foreign scientist, and how "hectic lobbying by Gargi supporters" ensured that the voice of a small minority of the senate who wanted Gargi's dismissal and forfeiture of his degrees were drowned.

The PU Law Review however carries a note stating that the views expressed are not to be attributed to the journal or its editor, which department teachers say is carried in every edition. The patron of the journal is Dr M. M. Puri and the chief editor is Prof V. K. Bansal, present chairman of the Department of Laws.