The doctoral defense of a research scholar at Kerala University’s Department of Sanskrit has been mired in controversy after the head of the department wrote to the vice-chancellor against the award of the doctorate.
CN Vijayakumari, Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies and Head of the Department of Sanskrit, in her formal communication to Vice-Chancellor-in-Charge Mohanan Kunnummal, raised serious procedural concerns regarding the conduct of the open PhD defense held on 15 October.
The representation states that the thesis “Sadgurusaraswam – A Study” was allowed to proceed in a manner that allegedly bypassed the mandatory review at the faculty level. During the open defence, the candidate allegedly did not answer factual questions about his work in either Sanskrit, English or Malayalam. Despite these shortcomings, the scholar’s dissertation was reportedly accepted and recommended for a PhD.
The thesis was written in English, and the complaint alleges that the student was unable to answer even basic questions from faculty members during an open defense. She expressed concern that awarding a doctorate for a “poor dissertation” would tarnish the reputation of the university, which had recently secured a top spot in the recent NIRF rankings.
Published – 28 October 2025 20:35 IST
