Outlook
India: New Delhi: Friday, 06 March 2020.
A
doctoral scrutiny committee (DSC) of the IIT-Kharagpur will consider the case
of denial of doctorate degree to a student of whistleblower Professor Rajeev
Kumar, who has alleged "vindictive attitude" towards him by the
premier engineering institute, according to official documents.
It
has been decided to put the matter of Mahesh Shirole to the DSC for a
"refreshed consideration", the documents stated. The committee has
head of the department as its ex-officio chairperson.
The
move follows repeated appeals by Shirole and his supervisor Kumar, a former
professor of the computer science and engineering department at the Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, according to a letter by Registrar B
N Singh.
Kumar
is now working with the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) following a prolonged
legal battle.
Citing
Shirole''s petition, the human resource development (HRD) ministry in a
communique had asked the IIT-Kharagpur registrar to place the issue before the
board of governors for a decision.
The
copy of the communique was received in response to an RTI query filed by Kumar.
The
board of governors of IIT-Kharagpur is headed by Sanjiv Goenka, the chairman of
the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, Kumar said.
Each
autonomous IIT has a board of governors responsible for its overall general
superintendence, direction and control of affairs.
Shirole
had submitted his thesis in 2014 for the award of Ph.D, which was accepted by
an Indian examiner, but rejected by an NRI one, Kumar said.
The
original thesis would have been sent to a third examiner. Instead, the IIT kept
on directing the student to revise the thesis and send that to the same NRI
examiner twice, who rejected the thesis with new comments every time, he said.
"The
IIT did not send the thesis to a third examiner despite repeated
requests," Kumar said.
For
the past three years, Shirole has been sending appeals to the president, who is
the Visitor of IITs, the prime minister and the HRD ministry, among others.
Kumar,
who has been fighting for justice of his student, in his appeal to the HRD
ministry and also to the president, claimed that the denial was the result of
the institution''s "vindictive attitude" towards him.
"IIT-Kharagpur''s
denial of Ph.D to the student is an extension of its vindictive attitude
against me. IIT-Kharagpur has been vindictive to me, as I disclosed
arbitrariness and irregularities in IITs admissions in 2006 onwards, and
contributed significantly in reforming IITs admissions and academic
processes," he said in the appeal.
The
IIT-Kharagpur had in May 2011 had suspended Kumar on charges of misconduct. He
was accused of damaging its reputation by levelling allegations of
irregularities in admissions, purchase of laptops and rampant copying by
students in exams.
Then,
the IIT imposed a penalty of his compulsory retirement in 2014, which was
set-aside in 2017 by then president Pranab Mukherjee.
During
the time, Kumar was appointed and joined JNU in 2015 during his legal fight
over the issue.
Kumar
was hailed as an "unsung hero" by the Supreme Court in 2011 for his
efforts to reform the IIT Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), which has since
been re-christened as JEE Advanced.
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