Professor Dr Md Anwar Hossain has been at the centre of a dispute at the Department of Farm Structure and Environmental Engineering in the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) after he caught plagiarism in the thesis papers of five students last year.
He was removed from his post of departmental head after the incident. This year, he has been relieved of his duties as admission test examination centre chief.
Teachers of the department and Prof Anwar are blaming each other for the developments.
Anwar claimed he had been removed as departmental head after he got into a dispute with several other teachers following discovery of plagiarism in the thesis papers of five MA students.
He said he had written to BAU authorities protesting against relieving him of his duties as the examination centre head.
Agricultural statistics department’s Prof Paresh Chandra Moda and agricultural chemistry’s Prof Dr Md Zakir Hossen also protested against the move in a letter to admission test committee coordinator Prof Dr Subhash Chandra Chakraborty on November 2, two days before the entry tests.
Prof Anwar was first removed from his departmental post and then, was not allowed to take classes. And now, the university authorities have relieved him of his admission test duties. BAU authorities did not mention any reason for these actions
Anwar claimed that the university authorities had intentionally relieved him of his duties and alleged that BAU vice chancellor had ties with those who favoured plagiarism in thesis.
Zakir said: “Prof Anwar was first removed from his departmental post and then, was not allowed to take classes. And now, the university authorities have relieved him of his admission test duties. BAU authorities did not mention any reason for these actions.
“Moreover, why would he be relieved of his admission test duties where teachers from various Mymensingh schools and colleges are deployed? I protested against it as I felt that he was subjected to injustice.”
Anwar said the university administration stopped him from taking classes in May last year. He was replaced by Associate Prof Mohammad Bellal Hossain as the department chair on May 24 this year.
BAU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Md Ali Akbar could not be reached for comments.
Sources say plagiarism allegations were brought against five students of Department of Farm Structure and Environmental Engineering. Thesis committee and departmental chief Anwar caught the cheating.
He claimed that he had wanted to recommend departmental action against the students and publish the results. But his decision irked three other teachers of the department.
Later, the university removed him from his post and relieved him of his duties without investigating it.
Anwar said the five 2009-10 session students – Razia Sultana, Mahmudul Hasan, Nazmin Ara, Alamgir Hossain and Sourov Islam – copied information from various local and international researches.
A test was later held on their thesis papers on February 7. The chief examiner went through the papers and forwarded them to the department for scrutiny.
Thesis defence committee members Prof Ali Ashraf, Prof Nurul Haq and Prof Siddiqur Rahman saw the papers and gave marks but Prof Anwar noticed the plagiarism.
He did not give any marks for the thesis papers and prepared the results grading the five students unsuccessful. The defence committee members allegedly declined to sign the result sheet and put pressure on Anwar to allow the five students pass.
Anwar claimed the three teachers verbally abused and harassed him as he did not agree with them.
Exam Controller Dr Rakibul Islam Khan notified the department about the delay in publishing results. The four teachers later went to the exam controller’s office. There, Anwar said he had mentioned the five students’ plagiarism.
He claimed he was harassed for hours for amending the result sheet and signing it. Anwar alleged that the exam controller, too, had put pressure on him.
But Rakibul rejected the claim, saying: “In the tabulation sheet, Prof Anwar Hossain wrote in red that the thesis papers were plagiarized. He declined to sign the sheet when we wanted to prepare the result of those five students, averaging the numbers given by other three teachers.
“He (Anwar) was neither pressurised nor was he harassed.”
When asked why the other teachers wanted to allow the students pass, Prof Anwar said Razia Sultana’s thesis supervisor was Zayeda Moin and the co-supervisors of other four students were members of thesis defence committee.
“They wanted their students to pass, fearing they will have to face action if the misconduct is proven,” he said.
He wrote to BAU authorities on March 23 to take action against the students and informed them about the misconduct of other teachers but the university did not pay any heed.
Ten days later, Anwar was removed his departmental post through an order signed by the registrar. On April 4, the department published the result signed by the new department head.
Prof Ashraf admitted to the fact that Anwar was harassed at the meeting held over publishing result. “Prof Nurul Haq is a senior teacher. He assaulted Anwar and verbally abused him after the latter refused to sign the tabulation sheet and spoke incoherently,” Ashraf claimed.
About the plagiarism, he said: “We did not notice anything. But it is true that the quality of the thesis was very bad. Razia Sultana’s thesis was the worst among them.”
Ironically, Razia also received the highest marks among the five students. Her CGPA stood at 3.6, while Mahmudul got 3.2, Nazmin 3.44 and Alamgir 3.25. Sourov’s result could not be known.
When asked why no action was taken against them even after allegations of plagiarism were brought against them, Ashraf said they had formed an investigation committee but Prof Anwar did not cooperate.
Anwar filed a case with a Mymensingh court last year alleging misconduct. He withdrew the case and moved the High Court on April 12 this year.
The court in a ruling asked the BAU authorities to explain why relieving Anwar of his duties and the published results of the five accused students would not be declared illegal.
Nine people, including BAU VC, exam controller, and registrar, have been ordered to reply within four weeks.
In the report of the 308th syndicate meeting, held on June 12 last year, it was stated that the removal of Prof Anwar from his position of departmental head without any reason was illegal.
Registrar Md Saiful Islam declined to comment, saying it was a sub-judice matter which will be resolved through the court.
This article was first published on Bangla Tribune