THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A controversy has erupted over the PhD degree of Minister K T Jaleel. Governor Arif Muhammed Khan came forward with a crucial move on it. The Governor directed the vice chancellor of the University of Kerala to take appropriate action after examining his thesis. The complaint is that the thesis is not fundamental.

Jaleel’s thesis was on the role of Variyan Kunnathu Kunjahammed Haji and Ali Musliar in the Malabar riots. He got Ph.D in 2006. The complaint to the Governor by Save University Forum is that hundreds of quotations were copied with mistakes and submitted to the university.

The complainants alleged that that the copy contained grammatical errors along with spelling mistakes. The governor directed the vice chancellor to take further steps based on the complaint.