A notice with the Devbhoomi Uttarakhand University’s logo – asking students to mandatorily attend the silver jubilee celebrations of the formation of the state, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the chief guest, for 50 internal marks – has gone viral on social media, prompting the university to clarify that it is fake and file a police complaint.
As per the letter titled “Notice”, with no date, reference number, signature, or stamp, the students were asked to attend the event scheduled at the Forest Research Institute as part of the “Bharatiya Gyan Parampara” course. It stated that attendance was mandatory. The notice bears the names of the head of the department of the BCA course, along with that of a programme coordinator.
However, the registrar of the private institution, Shubhashish Goswami, denied that the notice was issued by the administration. A complaint has been filed with the police as well as the Higher Education Department of the state government, he added.
The registrar told The Indian Express that no such notice was issued by the department. “We had received a letter from the government that sought the attendance of 2,000 students from across universities in the state, and we decided to send 1,000 students, who volunteered to attend. The image going viral is doctored,” said Goswami.
In a letter dated November 8 to the joint secretary of Higher Education, the institution declared the notice to be fake. “It has come to the notice of the University Authorities that a fake notice has been circulated recently in the name of Dev Bhoomi Uttarakhand University through unknown means of technology. All concerned are hereby informed that the said notice is completely fake and not issued by the University. It does not bear the official letterhead, reference number, signature of any competent authority, and was not approved or released through any authorised channel of the University,” it said.
The private institution was established in 2005, with over 10,000 students currently enrolled.
The registrar has also written to the Station House Officer of Premnagar police station. The complaint seeks action in the matter, stating, “We received information through social media that a fake notice, issued on a forged letterhead in the name of our institution, Devbhoomi Uttarakhand University, is being circulated. The notice in question falsely claims that students will be awarded 50 marks for visiting FRI on November 9, 2025. No such letter has been issued by the institution,” it said, through its registrar.
The police are yet to file an FIR.
