Plagiarism row- Kerala PVC asked to appear before CU probe panel
Dr.N.Veeramanikandan
The six-member Syndicate Sub-committee constituted by the Calicut University to investigate the plagiarism charges levelled against Kerala University Pro-Vice Chancellor N. Veeramanikandan has asked him to appear before the Committee in person on October 29.
The Committee has also decided to call for a written statement from the PVC on the various aspects of plagiarism pointed out in the reports submitted to the Calicut University by the three subject experts who have scrutinized his thesis.
The Committee has also directed the complainant B.S. Jyothi Kumar to depose before it on the same day to submit his version of charges.
The state government had asked the Calicut University Vice Chancellor to probe the charges that a major portion of Veeramanikandan’s PhD thesis submitted to the Calicut varsity was copied from various sources and to take appropriate action on the matter.
Professor N K Chadha, Head of the Delhi University Psychology Department, who scrutinized the PhD thesis, based on a request from Calicut University, had come to a conclusion that 63% of the PhD thesis was plagiarized from various internet sources, books and other theses.
Calicut University had awarded PhD in Psychology to Veeramanikandan in 2009 for his thesis ‘Psychological dynamics of asthma in relation to various etiological and therapeutic approaches and prognosis.’
Meanwhile, Veeramanikandan has refuted the findings of Chadha and maintained that the thesis was his original work and there was no valid basis for raising plagiarism charges against him. He had given proper references to all sourced materials.
The findings of the Committee, after hearing Veeramanikandan and the complainant on october 29 and scrutinizing the records, will be placed before the Syndicate for consideration. The Senate of the University has to finally decide on the fate of the Ph.D degree awarded to him
