IIM professor accused of plagiarism gets relief from Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court has asked the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, to conduct a fresh inquiry into the case of a professor accused of plagiarism.

A division bench of Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice C L Soni on Monday passed the order while hearing a contempt petition filed by professor Rajanish Dass, who was accused of plagiarism in three academic papers and a report on United Nations Development Programme project.

Dass, who teaches computer and IT systems in IIM-A, allegedly copied content without giving credit in two papers. They were co-authored with research associate Sujoy Pal and published in 2008 and 2009.

A two-member committee of professors Errol D’Souza and Tathagata Bandyopadhyay, who conducted a preliminary inquiry into the matter, had submitted their report to IIM-A director Samir Barua in February.

The report stated that the allegations against Dass were “valid”.  In January, Dass had approached the HC and complained that the committee did not provide him the documents based on which it drew the initial conclusion. Then IIM-A replied to the court that it would give the documents to Dass.

After the committee submitted its report in February, Dass moved court again, demanding contempt proceedings against Barua and the inquiry committee for not following the court’s order. Dass’ counsel Bipin Mehta said the committee did not give him relevant documents, while IIM-A’s lawyer Nandish Chudgar said Dass has got the documents. The next hearing is on March 19.