Pankaj Bharat Narvekar

Pankaj Narvekar
Born	Goa, India
Citizenship	Indian
Occupation	Civil engineer, government official, mountaineer
Employer	Public Works Department, Government of Goa
Known for	First person from Goa to summit Mount Everest
Children	Gunjan Narvekar

Pankaj Bharat Narvekar is an Indian civil engineer, government official and mountaineer from Goa. He works in the Public Works Department (PWD) of the Government of Goa. On 21 May 2024, he reached the summit of Mount Everest, becoming the first person from Goa reported to have climbed the world's highest mountain.

Narvekar has also climbed several Himalayan peaks, including Kamet, Mount Kun and Kang Yatse I and II. Apart from mountaineering, he has been involved in litigation concerning post-retirement service extensions and promotion practices in Goa's PWD. In 2025, the Bombay High Court at Goa considered his petition challenging extensions granted to four senior officials and called on the state government and the Goa Public Service Commission to develop a mechanism to avoid repeated service extensions.

Early life and background

Narvekar is from Porvorim, Goa. Contemporary reports described him as 41 years old at the time of his Everest ascent in May 2024. He has described himself as an explorer and traveller and has said that his interest in mountains developed first through trekking before he began mountaineering in 2012.

Narvekar is the father of mountaineer Gunjan Pankaj Prabhu Narvekar. In 2023, at the age of 12, Gunjan climbed three peaks above 6,000 metres in Ladakh's Markha Valley within 62.5 hours. Pankaj and Gunjan also completed the Everest Base Camp trek together.

Government service

Narvekar joined the Government of Goa's Public Works Department in 2006 as a Technical Assistant (Civil Engineer), a Group C, non-gazetted post, under an order dated 17 February 2006, and was initially posted to Division VII (Roads-NH), Panaji. He was promoted on an ad hoc basis to Assistant Engineer in September 2018 and posted to Sub-Division II, Division XI (Quality Control), Bicholim, vice Anthony J. Rodrigues. At the time of his Everest ascent in 2024, he was still serving in that capacity.

In 2025, Narvekar filed Writ Petition No. 287 of 2025 before the High Court of Bombay at Goa, contending that he had been superseded in the seniority list for promotion to Executive Engineer. On 29 July 2025, the court recorded a statement by the Advocate General that a complaint lodged against Narvekar could not have been valid grounds for his supersession, and that an ad hoc promotion order to Executive Engineer would be issued with immediate effect; the petition was disposed of on this basis. Narvekar was accordingly promoted on an ad hoc basis to Executive Engineer/Surveyor of Works (Civil) with effect from 29 July 2025, formalised by an order dated 1 September 2025 stating the promotion would continue until his superannuation or until the post was filled on a regular basis, whichever came first.

Mountaineering career

Early expeditions

Narvekar began with trekking and progressed to high-altitude mountaineering. Reports differ slightly on when his climbing career began: Narvekar told The Indian Express that he entered mountaineering in 2012, while regional coverage identifies 2015 as the beginning of his record of major summit expeditions.

Before Everest, Narvekar completed ascents of several Himalayan peaks. These included:

• Mount Kamet in Uttarakhand, approximately 7,756 metres;
• Mount Kun in Ladakh, approximately 7,077 metres;
• Kang Yatse I in Ladakh, approximately 6,400 metres; and
• Kang Yatse II in Ladakh, approximately 6,250 metres.

His training for Everest lasted about two years and included daily endurance preparation. He described high-altitude climbing as requiring prolonged movement in low-oxygen conditions, sometimes for up to 18 hours in a day.

Mount Everest expedition

A faulty piece of gear forced Narvekar and his sherpa guide to spend an additional 24 hours at Camp 4 (South Col), within the mountain's death zone, before beginning the final summit push.

Narvekar summited Mount Everest at approximately 5:30 a.m. on 21 May 2024, using supplemental oxygen. He unfurled the Indian flag at the summit and became the first person from Goa reported to complete the ascent.

During the descent, a snow cornice collapsed near the Hillary Step in the mountain's so-called death zone. Narvekar was close to the collapse, which swept climbers down the mountainside. He later described the incident as a near-death experience and said that his priority became returning safely to his family. He also identified the Khumbu Icefall—a moving glacier marked by crevasses—as the most dangerous section of the expedition.

Following the ascent, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant congratulated Narvekar and said the achievement could inspire young mountaineers in the state. Prudent Media subsequently featured him in a special programme about his expedition and the challenges he encountered.

Narvekar has expressed an interest in attempting Everest again without supplemental oxygen.

Public-interest litigation concerning PWD service extensions

In 2025, Narvekar filed Writ Petition No. 2614 of 2025 (F) before the High Court of Bombay at Goa. The respondents included the State of Goa, the Department of Personnel, the Goa Public Service Commission and four senior officials. Narvekar challenged four orders that extended the officials' service beyond their dates of superannuation. He also sought directions for a time-bound Departmental Promotion Committee process to fill vacancies, either regularly or on an ad hoc basis, including through a one-time relaxation of qualifying-service requirements.

The state defended the extensions on the ground of administrative necessity, arguing that qualified personnel were unavailable for certain senior posts. The court noted Narvekar's broader concern that repeated extensions restricted promotional opportunities for serving officers. It nevertheless declined to entertain his individual claim because the petition did not identify a specific post for which he sought a Departmental Promotion Committee process and because he had already received an ad hoc promotion.

In its judgment dated 14 October 2025, a division bench comprising Justices Bharati Dangre and Ashish S. Chavan described repeated extensions as a matter of concern. The bench asked the state government and the Goa Public Service Commission to devise a mechanism to avoid such extensions and to fill senior posts by reviewing recruitment rules, qualifications or possible relaxations. The petition was disposed of with these observations; the court left the final administrative course to the state government.

In November 2025, the State Cabinet approved an amendment to the Goa Civil Services Rules raising the retirement age of chief engineers in the Public Works, Water Resources, Drinking Water, and Electricity departments to 62, applicable only where no qualified officer was available for promotion.

The issue continued into 2026. On 6 January 2026, Narvekar and fifteen other Public Works Department officials, led by petitioner Abhay A. Prabhukhadpe, filed Writ Petition No. 37 of 2026 before the High Court of Bombay at Goa, naming the State of Goa, the Director, the office of the Principal Chief Engineer, and Principal Chief Engineer Uttam Parsekar as respondents, challenging recruitment practices and repeated service extensions in the department. Parsekar's third extended tenure ended on 31 January 2026, after which another officer was assigned additional charge of the post; news coverage described the decision as occurring amid judicial pressure and legal challenges by a group of PWD engineers. Parsekar was subsequently deleted from the array of respondents in the petition by an order dated 23 March 2026. As of September 2026, the case remains pending, with the next hearing scheduled for 7 October 2026.

Selected ascents

Mountain	Elevation reported in sources	Location	Notes
Kang Yatse II	6,250 m	Ladakh, India	Pre-Everest ascent
Kang Yatse I	6,400 m	Ladakh, India	Pre-Everest ascent
Mount Kun	7,077 m	Ladakh, India	Pre-Everest ascent
Mount Kamet	7,756 m	Uttarakhand, India	Pre-Everest ascent
Mount Everest	8,848 m	Nepal–China border	Summited 21 May 2024; first reported climber from Goa to do so

Personal life

Narvekar lives in Porvorim, Goa. His daughter, Gunjan Narvekar, is also a mountaineer and has participated with him in Himalayan trekking and climbing activities.

In July 2023, Gunjan — then twelve years old and a Class 8 student at Jnyan Vikas School, Goa — summited three peaks above 6,000 metres in the Markha Valley region of Ladakh: Kang Yatse II (6,250 m), Reponi Mallari I (6,097 m), and Reponi Mallari II (6,113 m). She reached all three summits within 49 hours of setting out and completed the full base-camp-to-base-camp trek in 62.5 hours.

Press coverage described the feat as surpassing an earlier informal benchmark set by a 13-year-old climber from Hyderabad, who had summited two peaks above 6,000 metres in 72 hours. The claim was widely reported but has not been independently certified by a formal record-keeping body such as the India Book of Records or the Limca Book of Records. Gomantak Times included the achievement in its year-end retrospective of Goa's notable international achievements for 2023.

External links

• Interview with Prudent Media