Delhi HC issues Notice on Students’ PIL to quash appointment of Assistant Professor, JNU alleging plagiarism [Read Petition]

A Public Interest Litigation has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking to quash the appointment of an Assistant professor, at School of Language, Literature and Cultural Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi who has been alleged of having committed plagiarism.

The petition had been jointly filed by one Mr Arshad Parvez, a First Division Graduate in B. A. (Hons.) Turkish language and literature and Mr M. Mobashshir Sarwar a final year law student.

The Petitioners aver in their petition, that Mr Gous Maskoor Khan, Assistant professor, School of Language, Literature and Cultural Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University do not possess the requisite qualifications , to hold the said post. It is further contended that selection of Mr Khan had been done in a clandestine manner, bypassing all norms and procedures, as a mere eyewash against UGC norms and regulations.

A further thrust of challenge has been made on the count that Mr Gous Maskoor Khan,without giving any credits nor references, had committed plagiarism in his work of the book, titled ‘A NEW APPROACH TO TURKISH LANGUAGE LEARNING’ , which is nothing but a verbatim reproduction copied from an online source:- “Turkish Language Class: Free Online Turkish Language Resource” available in Website: http:// turkishclass.com/turkish

 The Petitioners have hence, sought a writ of mandamus ,seeking a direction “to constitute a high- level fact-finding committee for fixing the responsibilities of the intellectual plagiarism committed by Khan.” The petitoners also seek the issuance of Writ of quo warranto seeking to oust Mr Khan from the post of assistant professor.

Apart from the above, the petitioners have made prayers seeking to issue a Writ of Certiorari to quash the selection and appointment granted to Mr Khan. A fervent prayer has also been made against University Grants Commission, for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus to “constitute a high-powered committee as a permanent mechanism to effectively prevent the serious issue of the plagiarism in academic circle and universities".

The bench comprising of Chief Justice Rohini and Justice Jayanth Nath which considered the PIL , issued notice in the matter, and further directed the university, to file their counter affidavit in this regard. The matter has been next directed to be posted on 31/08/16.

Read the petition here.