MU inaction in plagiarism: Law students complain

Students of the Master of Law (LLM) course in the Mumbai University (MU) have complained of rampant plagiarism in final year theses. Students claimed the university does not have a Plagiarism Disciplinary Authority (PDA) to scrutinise cases of copying in thesis submission.

This year, 600 students are studying for the final year of LLM exams and must each submit a 200-mark thesis at the end of their academic year. The thesis is the most important criterion of the final semester, as students can only apply for further studies or seek job opportunities based on their research. Also, since it constitutes 200 of the 1,300 marks allotted for the Master’s programme, students get around four months to prepare their thesis.

Students revealed some of their classmates are copying content submitted in the past or from the work of their counterparts in foreign universities and passing it off as their original work in research projects. Shomit Salunkhe, an MPhil student said, “Students often take projects of previous years and submit these as their own. It has been observed, some try to copy content from unknown and small foreign universities, just rephrasing the content and putting their names to it. This is a grave problem and no checks to counter this have been put in place by the authorities.”

Sadly, the MU does not have a governing body to check this practice and students continue to get away with copied material, according to Salunkhe. So rampant is this practice that hiring firms are now questioning even those who have submitted original content for their thesis.

“Mumbai University does not have a designated committee to check these discrepancies and the theses submitted by students. After I had joined a legal firm and a new applicant submitted his thesis, I realised he had plagiarised my work. Shockingly, I too was questioned by the bosses, since they now scrutinise closely. This plagiarising can blow up into a huge issue," said Salunkhe.

The MU authorities claim it is the responsibility of a thesis committee to check the authenticity of these research projects. Since such a committee is not yet formed, the scrutiny needs to be done by the department heads. “Professors should scrutinise projects closely. There are specific University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines to tackle such cases, depending on the extent of the content used or copied and we have informed all departments about the same,” said a senior official of the MU.

Students often take projects of previous years and submit these as their own. It has been observed, some try to copy content from unknown and small foreign universities, just rephrasing the content and putting their names to it. This is a grave problem and no checks to counter this have been put in place by the authorities

— SHOMIT SALUNKHE, MPhil student