Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala University has asked explanation from Dr P P Ajayakumar about the doctoral thesis filed by Youth Commission Chairperson Chintha Jerome. He was her research guide.
A decision will be taken on appointing an expert committee to examine the thesis when the vice-chancellor returns on Wednesday.
The Governor has forwarded complaints received regarding Chintha's PhD thesis to the VC and sought a report. The Registrar started the preliminary data collection in VC's absence.
There are complaints that part of the research paper was plagiarised from some online publications. The Vice-Chancellor may also take into account the opinion of the Registrar in the matter of appointing an expert committee to examine the thesis.
There is no provision in the existing law to correct the erroneous part and resubmit the thesis to the university. The statute also does not allow the withdrawal of the degree awarded.