Mistake in Chintha's dissertation was mere oversight, no fallacy in dissertation: Former PVC

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ex-PVC Dr PP Ajayakumar, the research guide of Youth Commission chairperson Chintha Jerome, explained to the Kerala University VC that he has fully examined the research paper of Chintha Jerome and is convinced that there are no fallacies.

Earlier, the VC had sought an explanation from the guide in a complaint filed by the Save University Campaign Committee, pointing out that the dissertation asserted that it was poet Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon who authored Changampuzha's famous poem 'Vazhakkula'. Save University Campaign Committee had also accused her of copying her dissertation from an online platform.

In his reply, the guide clarified that Chintha had admitted to making a mistake by writing in the dissertation that "Vazhakkula" was written by Vyloppilli, and that she would republish it after fixing the error. The Governor had also sought an explanation from the VC on the complaint that the dissertation was plagiarized from several articles. However, the VC was unable to reply as he did not receive the guide's explanation.

'The similarity of the dissertation to other publications is less than 10 percent. A plagiarism check has been done as per UGC rules. The dissertation is entirely about the researcher's findings,' the guide explained.