New repor t sug gests MU prof ’s wife copied from him

 2 chapters in Ra jani Mathur’s thesis a ‘verbatim reproduction’ of MU professor Neera j Hatekar’s original work, says institutional academic integrity panel; recommends re-examination of her MPhil degree

More than two years after being accused of copying excerpts from his wife Rajani Mathur’s MPhil thesis, economics professor Neeraj Hatekar has been given a clean chit by the University of Mumbai’s antiplagiarism committee. The institutional academic integrity panel (IAIP), formed under the order of the University Grants Commission, has instead pointed fingers at Mathur. The panel’s report, submitted in July last year to Vice Chancellor Suhad Pednekar, said that two chapters in Mathur’s MPhil thesis were reproduced verbatim from Hatekar’s PhD thesis. It recommended a reexamination of her MPhil degree. The report is a U-turn on the findings of a high-level probe panel submitted in January 2018, which had said that Hatekar had plagiarised 36 excerpts from Mathur’s work for his thesis, titled ‘Studies in the theory of business cycles with special emphasis on real business cycles and their applications to India’. Mathur submitted her dissertation in May 1993, six months before Hatekar did. The new committee, headed by Pro Vice Chancellor Ravindra Kulkarni, sent its findings to Vinish Kathuria, professor of economics at IIT-Bombay, to double-check them. In his report to the IAIP, Kathuria said Hatekar “did the work earlier and also wrote it earlier”. He pointed to similarities between two mimeographs (unpublished academic papers) and Hatekar’s PhD thesis. The mimeographs were written at least a year before submission of the thesis. “Both these working papers are for chapter 2 [of the PhD thesis], for which there is similarity. This implies that there is no plagiarism done by the author of the PhD thesis (sic),” said Kathuria. The IAIP report said a majority of the contents of chapters 5 and 6 in Mathur’s thesis was a “verbatim reproduction” of Hatekar’s “original work” in chapter 2 of his thesis. Noting that Hatekar typed out his wife’s entire MPhil thesis, it said, “He was fully aware of the contents of chapters 5 and 6, which constitute Hatekar’s original work. He ought to have taken due care in chapter 2 of his own thesis.” Since chapters 5 and 6 form a substantial portion of Mathur’s research, the panel pressed for a reexamination of her MPhil degree. “…whether the same (the two chapters) or remainder of her thesis can be treated as original contribution by Mathur needs to be verified… There is no original contribution by way of research by Mathur in chapters 5 and 6 with justifications as to acceptance or critique to the extracts taken from Hatekar’s research. In view of this, the awarding of the MPhil degree to Mathur on the basis of her dissertation/thesis attracts suspicion and deserves to be dealt with appropriately,” it said. Hatekar, who enjoys a cult status among students, admitted that he had typed his wife’s dissertation. “You must remember that in 1993, very few people had access to computers with a word processing software. Getting the typing work done professionally was very expensive. I had access to a computer and could also type. Hence, I did it. I, of course, was fully aware of the use of my work in her dissertation. She has, as far as I am concerned, adequately acknowledged it.” Insisting that he has no complaint about Mathur using his work in her dissertation, he questioned the need to put her MPhil degree under scrutiny. “I, as the author of the original piece, have no complaints,” he said, adding that he is yet to get a copy of the new report. Hatekar has guided 11 PhD students, has won two fellowships from the UK’s Cambridge University and has published several academic papers. In 2014, hundreds of students skipped classes in protest against his suspension for speaking out against the university. For many weeks, till his suspension was revoked, he held classes on the road outside the university’s main gate. Mirror reached out to Mathur and Pednekar. Neither of them responded. The plagiarism probe was initiated in November 2017 on the basis of a complaint by Swati Vora, an assistant commerce professor at Rizvi College.

Source: Mumbai Mirror, 20/02/2020