Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons has written to HRD minister Prakash Javadekar demanding action against Professor Neeraj Hatekar of the department of economics, Mumbai University over plagiarism charges against him.
A probe committee of the University had last month found that Hatekar had copied substantial parts of his PhD thesis from his wife' Rajni Mathur's MPhil desertation.
The University has sent the report to its Institutional Academic Integrity Panel for further action, officials said.
A section of academicians had also written to the University Grants Commission last month demanding action against Hatekar.
In a letter posted on social media after the enquiry panel found him guilty, Hatekar had said, "The university did not follow a set procedure in setting up the committee. Neither the documents presented by me to support my case were considered by the panel. This is all a set up to affect my promotion opportunities in a negative way."
When contacted by PTI on Friday, Hatekar chose not to comment and said that his social media post represented his position on the issue.
In the letter to the Human Resource Development minister, Alphons has said that in any other university in any other country, the concerned person would have been "dismissed from service and criminal action initiated against him".
Copies of the letter have been sent to the Chancellor, University of Mumbai, Governor of Maharashtra, Secretary, Department of Education and Chairman, University Grants Commission.
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