The Save University Campaign Committee (SUCC) has petitioned Governor Arif Mohammed Khan to issue orders for a review of the doctorate degree awarded to State Youth Commission chairperson Chintha Jerome by Kerala University in view of factual errors in her dissertation.
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Ms. Jerome has come under fire for incorrectly attributing Vazhakkula, a popular work of poet Changampuzha Krishna Pillai, to another well-known poet Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon. The dissertation on ‘Ideological Underpinnings in Select Malayalam Commercial Films of the Post-Liberation Era’ was submitted by Ms. Jerome for a doctorate degree in 2021.
In their petition, SUCC chairman R.S. Sasikumar and convener M. Shajarkhan alleged that the error revealed “a lack of knowledge and negligence” on the part of the candidate. They also claimed that portions in the thesis had been directly copied from an internet source.
They blamed the research supervisor for the lapse and demanded punitive action against both the guide and the scholar. The university authorities, including the Vice-Chancellor, who are supposed to ensure quality control in the process leading to the award of PhD degrees are liable for errors found in theses, they said.
The Kerala Students Union (KSU) also demanded steps to cancel the doctorate degree in light of the findings. Inaugurating a demonstration organised by the KSU to the office of the State Youth Commission headquarters, KSU president Aloysius Xavier said the award of doctorate degrees without proper scrutiny could bring every research scholar under a cloud of suspicion.