1 day Ago
Slug: MSU PhD Exam Vadodara: A new row has surfaced at M S University over conducting viva exams of PhD students. Former senate member Kapil Joshi on Saturday submitted a memorandum to in-charge vice-chancellor Prof Dhanesh Patel, demanding immediate action against the alleged procedural misconduct by Prof Bhavna Mehta. Mehta holds the position of controller of examinations and is also head of the Faculty of Social Work.
On April 2, Mehta issued two official notifications for the PhD viva-voce examinations of two research scholars. "Both the notifications explicitly disclose the names of the VC-nominated external examiners," said Joshi, adding that these notifications are publicly displayed on the notice board of the Faculty of Social Work. The notifications mention the names of Prof Sanjoy Roy, dean and head of the University of Delhi's Department of Social Work, and Prof Vinita Dhingra, head of the Department of Social Work at Kurukshetra University, Haryana.
"As per well-established university practice, the name of the external examiner is never to be disclosed. The standard protocol is to mention only ‘external examiner nominated by the VC' in all the communications," said Joshi, adding that the fundamental norm exists to preserve the fairness, impartiality, and objectivity of the evaluation process. Joshi stated that the notifications were not only publicly displayed but were even circulated among faculty and students, constituting "a serious breach of the confidentiality and integrity" of the PhD examination process.
The former senator demanded the immediate suspension of Mehta as head of department, her removal from the post of controller of examinations, and an inquiry into the misconduct under the provisions of the Gujarat Public Universities Act, 2023, followed by appropriate disciplinary action. When contacted, Mehta told TOI that the 2018 guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC) advocate for open public defence during the viva-voce examinations of PhD students. "There are no such norms that restrict universities from mentioning the names of the external examiners, especially at a time when we are advocating open public defence.
There are departments within our own university which have issued such notifications for conducting PhD viva-voce with the names of the external examiners. Such notifications have been issued in the months of Feb, March, and so on," she said..
