M VENKATARAMANAPPA Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner has called into question the first respondents order, dated 29.3.2011 (Annexure-P) annulling the Ph.D, degree awarded to the petitioner, on the basis of the report of the Inquiry Commission as his thesis contained plagiarized passages.

(2.) SRI Subramanya Jois, the learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner submits that the impugned Government Order is without jurisdiction and without the authority of law. He submits that neither the Karnataka Universities Act, 2000 (the said Act for short) nor the Bangalore Universitys Regulations provide for the annulment of Ph. D. degree by the Government. He submits that as per Section 70 of the said Act, it is only the Syndicate which has the power, based on the recommendations of the Academic Council to withdraw the Ph.D. degree.

(3.) HE has also relied on the Apex Courts judgment in the case of A.K.KRAIPAK AND OTHERS v. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS reported in AIR 1970 SC 150 for contending that the administrative decision-making, if it involves civil consequences, must be made consistently with the rules of natural justice.