Professor Aswini K Mohapatra, Associate Professor at the Centre for West Asian and African Studies (CWAAS) in the School of International Studies, filed the case in the High Court in December last year, challenging the university selection committee’s decision over the suitability and appointment of Dr Anwar Alam.

According to Mohapatra, the resume of Alam held back important information about his career and exaggerated some achievements. Mohapatra obtained the resume through an RTI application.

When asked, Alam said the case is baseless as he had no say in the decision of the selection committee.

“The case has come up only because the petitioner is my senior, and he felt that he should have been selected for the post. I will file my reply soon. I think it was unnecessary for anyone to file the case,” he said.

In his petition, Mohapatra has alleged that the JNU and the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) granted undue indulgence to Alam at every stage of his career, which has helped him in obtaining the post of a professor.

Earlier, Alam did probation in the political science department in AMU.

Through RTI, Mohapatra has also sought a reply from the AMU over Alam’s reinstatement in the political science department on the same date (March 6, 1999) on which he was terminated.

“How can a person be terminated and reinstated on the same date is a matter of investigation. Also, while teaching at AMU, Dr Alam had applied for JNU but he never gave details of his personal record at AMU,” Mohapatra said.