Two polytechnic lecturers suspended over alleged academic fraud in TVM

Thiruvananthapuram: The Higher Education Department has suspended two polytechnic lecturers for allegedly securing Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) benefits through academic fraud, including the submission of fake research papers and publications in predatory journals.

The suspended lecturers are Mini R S, Assistant Professor in the Electronics Engineering Department at Government Polytechnic College, Attingal, and Bindu M S, Assistant Professor at Government Polytechnic College, Ezhukone. The action follows an inquiry ordered after a complaint filed by advocate Jayadeep Warrier alleging irregularities in the grant of Grade Pay of ₹9,000 under the AICTE Sixth Pay Commission to teachers under the Technical Education Department.

A three-member academic committee constituted by the Director of Technical Education found that most of the journals submitted along with the lecturers’ CAS applications were predatory in nature. Predatory journals are fake, profit-driven publications that pose as legitimate academic journals and charge researchers to publish work without proper peer review.

The committee also detected serious discrepancies in publication dates and PDF metadata and found that some articles had not been published in the years claimed. Documents shown as publications from 2016–17 were found to have been created only in 2022. Based on these findings, the committee concluded that there was prima facie evidence that forged and misleading documents were used to secure CAS benefits, resulting in financial loss to the State exchequer.

The lecturers’ CAS 9000 applications were first considered by a screening committee in November 2022, which recommended granting the benefit with effect from March 31, 2022. In a subsequent meeting held in October 2023, the same committee considered fresh applications supported by publications later identified as predatory, enabling the lecturers to claim CAS benefits with retrospective effect from 2016–17.

After examining the report, the department said the allegations were serious and prima facie substantiated, and that allowing the lecturers to continue in service could affect further investigation and was against public interest. The order said both lecturers would be entitled to subsistence allowance during the suspension period as per Rule 55 of the Kerala Service Rules.