Chennai: After 16 years of getting his PhD from the University of Madras, a complaint has alleged that professor T. Santhanam, new principal of DG Vaishnav College in Chennai has plagiarized his PhD thesis by copying important chapters from another thesis submitted by a US research scholar to Arizona State University.
In her complaint to the vice-chancellor of Madras University, Dr Regina Vincent from Korattur in Chennai has sought the disapproval of his appointment as the principal of D.G. Vaishnav College.
He was appointed as the principal of the college on September 28 and the syndicate of the Madras University to discuss the issue of giving approval to his appointment at its meeting on Friday.
“Mr.Santhanam has copied core chapters of his PhD thesis namely, third, fourth and fifth chapters from the thesis titled as ‘The Validation of a Computer Simulation Model Using Spectral Analysis’ by John Witherspoon Gowens II who has submitted the thesis for the doctoral degree in business administration,” she alleged in the letter.
There are also other allegations such as the UGC regulations were not followed in the appointment. Professor Santhanam got his PhD in Computer Science for his thesis titled as ‘The Validation of a Computer Simulation model Using Spectral Analysis’ under the guidance of professor P. Rajagopalan from the University of Madras in 2001.
“The issue is being raised now after 16 years of getting the PhD with an ulterior motive. The complainant is in no way connected with our college,” professor Santhanam said about the allegations.
“The complaint copy was forwarded by the registrar to the college and the secretary of the college had replied to the university. The appointment was made following the UGC regulations 2010,” he added.
When enquired about the issue, S. Duraisamy, vice-chancellor, University of Madras said, “We have enquired about the complaint and will follow the rules in approving the appointment. The syndicate will take a final decision on the matter.”
