http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/pondicherry-v-c-has-a-problem-cv-has-a-suspect-book-two-that-cant-be-traced/99/
Pondicherry V-C has a problem:
CV has a suspect book, two that can’t be traced
ARUN JANARDHAANAN
CHENNAI,NOVEMBER21
Five of its eight chapters has papers by others.
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| chorani guru prof.chandra krishnamurthy book |
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| CHORANIGURU PROF. CHANDRA KRISHNA MURTHY |
She is the Vice Chancellor of Pondicherry Central
University, an ex-Vice Chancellor at SNDT Mumbai, former Acting Vice-Chancellor
at University of Mumbai, and her CV has passed through the Central government
and the office of the President of India, who is the Chancellor of all central
universities, before her last appointment.
But documents accessed by The Indian Express reveal
that Chandra Krishnamurthy plagiarised most of one book mentioned in that CV,
which also lists two other books that may have never been published at all.
And, a search of the UGC database and an online
repository for law schools show no trace of 24 of Krishnamurthy’s 25 research
papers and publications — on legal and constitutional studies — listed on her
CV.
When contacted, Krishnamurthy first expressed
surprise at the allegations, then said that she had acknowledged the portions
in her work where she referred to other sources. However, this acknowledgment,
in the last page of the book in question Legal Education in India which she
authored, is a list of seven names of scholars without any explanation, and two
Wikipedia links.
Krishnamurthy, who was appointed as Pondicherry
Central University V-C in early 2013, did not comment on the ethics of using
others’ work while claiming complete authorship. She added, before abruptly
terminating the conversation, that she has published two books — Legal
Education in India (2009 and 2011) and Human Rights for Vulnerable Groups —
with Himalaya Publishing House even though the publishers have confirmed
publication of only the first one.
She did not comment about the third book mentioned
on her CV — Constitutional Law-New Challenges. The CV claimed the book was
published by Snow White Publication but Angit Thakur, who represents the
publishing house, said their database could not trace this book or any other
publication by Krishnamurthy.
Now consider these:
* Five out of eight chapters of Legal Education in
India were found to include papers written by eminent scholars including
Padmashree N R Madhava Menon, an eminent legal educator and the founder of
National Law School in Bangalore.
* Menon’s work titled “Training in Legal Education:
Some Comparative Insights from Indian American Experience” has been virtually
copied in full and published as a fourth chapter in Krishnamurthy’s book with a
minor change in the title: “Some Comparative Insights From Indian and American
Experience.” Other than a minor change – the word “means” in the original paper
has been changed to “moans” in a portion — the article has not been changed.
When contacted, Menon said he will question this
“theft” and take appropriate action. “I am just waiting to see a copy of her
book,” he said. “She never asked me for this reproduction and anyway, nobody
can reproduce one’s work in another’s name.”
Then again, the preface of “Legal Education
in India” has been copied from a paper titled “Legal Education To Meet
Challenges of Globalisation” authored by Pradip Kumar Das, a lecturer of Bengal
Law College in Birbhum.
While Krishnamurthy has used the first paragraph of
the paper for the preface, the rest of Das’ work is published as the second
chapter of her book without even changing the title.
That’s not all.
* The book’s first chapter, titled “Legal Education
and Advocates Act, 1961”, is almost a verbatim copy of the 184th report of Law
Commission of India published in 2002, titled “The Legal Education &
Professional Training and Proposals for Amendments to the Advocates Act, 1961
and the University Grants Commission Act, 1956.”
* A paper “Lawyers and Legal Education in India”,
authored by Dr Ram Babu Dubey a professor of law (at the time of publication)
at the Government P G College, Narasinghpur, Madhya Pradesh, has been
reproduced in the fifth chapter of Krishnamurthy’s book under the title “Legal
Education in India and Role of Lawyers (BAR)”.
* The first three pages of the sixth chapter has
been copied from “History of Legal Education” authored by Sushma Gupta and
published by Deep and Deep Publications Private Limited, New Delhi in 2006.
And, these are just the major instances of
plagiarism that have been noted.
When contacted, K N Pandey, one of the directors of
Himalaya Publishing House, said that contrary to what Krishnamurthy claimed in
her CV, they have never published the book titled “Human Rights for Vulnerable
Groups.”
“Only one book has been published by her and we
will definitely take legal action against the author if instances of plagiarism
has been found. Unfortunately, the book is already in the syllabus of several
law institutions including the department of law at the Bombay University for
LLB courses. It is intellectual theft and she can’t reproduce somebody’s work
when the copyright belongs to us, the publisher,” Pandey said.
Interestingly, Krishnamurthy has marked all her
personal files, including her CV, as “Protected Personal Information” by the
Public Information Officer which would prevent them from being accessed by RTI
queries.
Rajiv Yaduvanshi, an IAS officer who was the former
registrar of Pondicherry Central University, had initiated several inquiries
against Krishnamurthy before being repatriated by her last month. It was his
efforts through the HRD Ministry that finally led to the declassification of
her personal details. “I had reported to the HRD Ministry about how she has
abused her power by marking her personal details as “Protected Personal
Information” to deny RTI queries,” he said.
When contacted, M Anandakrishnan, chairman of the
IIT-Kanpur board, and member of the panel that shortlisted Chandra in 2012,
said the charges were serious and that she should be removed immediately from
the post. “I will not tolerate the leader of an academic institution being
involved in deliberate academic misdemeanour,” he said.
Asked about the selection of Chandra by the panel,
he said when they “select so many V-Cs within limitations, there are possibilities
of some accidents too”.
After going through the instances of plagiarism by
Krishnamurthy, K L Chopra, a former director of IIT-Kharagpur who has headed
several probe panels in central institutions and universities on plagiarism,
said what the Vice-Chancellor had done was a punishable crime. “It is nothing
less than the crime of stealing money. Plagiarism is the extreme form of
dishonesty and a crime no teacher or scholar can do. She should be removed from
the V-C’s post immediately and the HRD Ministry should order a probe into her
academic credentials and claims of publications,” he said.
...........................................................................
‘Plagiarism’: Teachers at
Pondicherry varsity seek V-C’s removal
Written by Arun Janardhanan |,Chennai | Posted: November 24, 2014 1:36 am
The Indian Express,New Delhi ,Page 7
The
allegations regarding her book add to other charges of gross illegalities
against Chandra.
Following The Indian Express report that documents
showed Pondicherry University Vice-Chancellor Chandra Krishnamurthy has
plagiarised most of the book she mentioned in her CV, the Pondicherry
University Teachers’ Association (PUTA) has sent a letter to Union Human
Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani seeking her immediate removal and a
probe into her academic credentials.
The letter from PUTA says that a vice-chancellor
must not just protect academic ethics but also “nurture” them, and “this
shameful and indefensible act of academic theft and cheating makes her position
as head of an institution, that too of a central university, absolutely
untenable”.
The allegations regarding her book add to other
charges of gross illegalities against her, says PUTA, adding that her
appointment by the UPA regime was also fraught with problems.
The Indian Express had reported on Saturday that
Krishnamurthy appeared to have plagiarised most parts in one book by her, Legal
Education in India (2009 and 2011), mentioned in her CV. Five out of eight
chapters and the preface appear to be verbatim copies of papers published by
eminent legal scholars. Two other books mentioned in her CV may have never been
published at all.
In another move that may prove controversial,
Krishnamurthy has called for a meeting of the Executive Council, the top
academic and administrative body of the university, on Monday, reportedly to
ratify the minutes of a June 2014 meeting which had been later “cancelled” by
the HRD Ministry for “violating rules” and repatriating the registrar “without
valid reasons”.
A member of the Executive Council said the
vice-chancellor had called the June meeting invoking emergency powers “despite
a government order to not invoke special powers to call for emergency Executive
Council meetings”. “The purpose was to repatriate registrar Rajiv Yaduvanshi,
and approve new recruitments and 25 per cent reservation for local students,
which is against the very idea of a central university.”
Krishnamurthy was not available for comment.
- See more at:
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/plagiarism-teachers-at-pondicherry-varsity-seek-v-cs-removal/#sthash.DjJT8DUC.dpuf
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