Delhi HC imposes Rs 25K cost on JNU assistant prof

The Delhi High Court has imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on a JNU assistant professor for repeatedly seeking time to file his response to a plea challenging his appointment for alleged plagiarism.

The court granted Gous Mashkoor Khan a last opportunity to file his response along with the cost.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar noted that Khan has not filed his affidavit in past several dates and even earlier a last chance was given, which had no impact on him.

"The intent is obvious as the petition challenges appointment of respondent 4 (Khan)," the bench said, adding that, "one last chance is given to him to file the reply subject to paying of a cost of Rs 25,000 in two weeks".

 

The court made it clear that in case, he does not file the reply and the cost, his defence will be closed and listed the matter for further hearing on May 2.

The bench had earlier directed the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to produce the assistant professor's records, if any, for the period 2012 to 2014 when he was allegedly pursuing a Masters degree in Turkish Language and Literature from Turkey.

The court's direction came on a plea by advocate Mobashshir Sarwar and M Arshad Parvez, who have alleged that Khan, an assistant professor at the Centre for Turkish School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies in JNU, was not "eligible" for the post.

Parvez, who did his BA (Honours) in Turkish language and literature from Jamia Millia Islamia in 2015, further alleged that Khan "plagiarised" an online literature work in Turkish Language and published the same in 2012 with a new title -- 'A new approach to Turkish language learning'.

The petitioners have sought a direction to "constitute a high-level fact-finding committee for fixing the responsibilities of the intellectual plagiarism committed by Khan".

They have also sought a direction to the University Grants Commission 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 plea has alleged that even his MA thesis is plagiarised according to the Turnitin report - a software recommended by the UGC to curb menace of plagiarism in academic circle.