PUDUCHERRY: The Union human resource ministry issued a showcase notice to Chandra Krishnamurthy , who was earlier relieved from the post of Pondicherry University vice-chancellor, asking her why action should not be taken against her in connection with several charges against her. Chandra has been granted 21 days to reply the show cause notice. The ministry issued the notice following a direction from the Visitor of Pondicherry University (President of India). Chandra, who took over as the first woman vice-chancellor of the university, has been mired with several controversies. The Union government received several complaints charging that she had mislead the selection committee by submitting a fake CV with false information about her educational qualification and eligibility criteria. She had declared that she was a professor while she had only served as a lecturer or a reader.

She claimed that she had written three books, published more than 25 papers in reputed journals and guided nine PhD scholars. The ministry received complaints that her book, ‘Legal education in India’ was found to be plagiarized to an extent of 98%. Two of her other books she claimed to have written were never published. Moreover her claims that she had published 25 papers in reputed journals were found to be false. The only paper, which they traced, turned out to be plagiarized to an extent of 72%. Similarly her claims that she guided nine PhD students were found to be false. The RTI replies obtained by activists proved that she had guided only two students. She was also accused of illegally appointing several people violating the acts and statutes of the university and running the institution for personal gain. She was held responsible for the breakdown of academic and administrative hierarchy thus leading to the collapse of the administrative machinery of the institution. This led to the resentment of students, teaching and non-teaching staff members.

“This is the first of its kind in the history of Indian higher education that a vice chancellor of a Central University faces administrative action on account of academic fraud and official misconduct. This is also the first reported incident that a vice-chancellor is retrained from entering a premise of the university,” said a member of joint action committee of the university. The other charges also include illegally confining a student for more than 27 hours under her instructions in an effort to force him to admit that he entered girls’ hostel. The student was later found innocent as it was proved that he was in the library when the incident took place.