Thiruvananthapuram: Dr P P Ajayakumar, the research guide of Youth Commission Chairperson Chintha Jerome, clarified that the mistake in her doctoral thesis was a mere oversight and nothing more.
He submitted the explanation to the Vice Chancellor of the Kerala University.
Chintha's doctoral thesis initially came under the spotlight for wrongly attributing the Changampuzha poem 'Vazhakkula' to Vyloppilly Sreedhara Menon.
Kerala University had asked explanation from her research guide about the thesis following this.
The Governor has forwarded complaints received regarding Chintha's PhD thesis to the VC and sought a report. 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.
