UP Governor ignores MHRD recommendation; reappoints tainted academic as AKTU VC

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 8: Ignoring the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development’s (MHRD) recommendation of ‘action against’ Prof. Vinay Kumar Pathak over charges of plagiarism, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh has reappointed him as the Vice Chancellor of Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam Technical University.

Prof. Pathak has been reappointed for a term of three years, his previous term was to end in August this year.

Earlier, through an RTI reply from the Governor’s Secretariat, it was found that a paper mentioned in the CV of Prof Pathak had significant section plagiarised, his paper matched with another published in a foreign journal in 2007.

This alleged plagiarism was reported after a former University Grant Commission (UGC) member, Dharmendra Yadav, sought Pathak’s CV, which was used to apply for the post of VC, under the Right to Information.

Swaraj India chief, Yogendra Yadav, citing the RTI lodged a complaint with the UP Additional Chief Secretary Sanjay Agarwal demanding an inquiry. Yadav alleged that Pathak and his PhD student Rohit Katiyar published a research paper which was 100% copied (except the title) in an international journal.

Yadav in his complaint had mentioned, “This instance pertains to Prof Vinay Kumar Pathak, Vice-Chancellor, Dr APJAKTU, Lucknow. He along with some of his students has been repeatedly involved in brazen acts of plagiarism that violate academic norms, UGC regulations and the copyright laws of our country.”

However, Prof Pathak questioning the complaint against him termed the case as an attempt to malign his image and said that the CV mentioned in the RTI was not ‘genuine’. He also said that when he contacted the Publisher of the journal they confirmed that his name was not there and it was in the name of Rohit Katiyar, who was a student under Pathak during his tenure as Dean Harcourt Butler Technological Institute (HBTI), Kanpur.

MHRD action recommendation

Minister of State for HRD, Dr Satyapal Singh while replying to cases of plagiarism and fake thesis in Indian Universities and action taken upon them, in past three years said that the Ministry has asked the concerned universities to take action against these persons.

The Minister said that three cases of plagiarism have been reported in past three years one by Dr Chandra Krishnamurthy, who was the VC of Pondicherry University; Dr. Anil Kumar Upadhyay, Reader at Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi in the year 2017 and Prof. Vinay Kumar Pathak, VC, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam Technical University in 2018.

Dr Krishnamurthy was dismissed from her post of VC in July 2016 after charges of plagiarism were proved against her.

The UGC has notified the regulations to check Plagiarism in Higher Education to promote academic research and curb plagiarism by developing systems to detect it.