Calcutta, July 16: The CPM leadership has decided not to embroil the party in the controversy over the PhD degree of Pabitra Sarkar, the former Rabindra Bharati University vice-chancellor and academic.

“We are not saying anything (on the row) on behalf of the party because this is essentially an academic issue,” said CPM state secretary Anil Biswas. Asked why the chief minister had defended Sarkar, Biswas said: “We endorse (Buddhadeb) Bhattacharjee’s statement on the issue. He has given his opinion as the head of the government and we are not saying anything on the issue on behalf of the party.”

The chief minister had said in the Assembly there could be no doubt about Sarkar’s academic prowess even as he skirted a comment on his doctorate from the University of Chicago, which is under a cloud.

Sarkar, who returned from Chicago with a provisional PhD certificate, said after the controversy erupted that he could not apply for the final document because of other preoccupations until early this year.

Biswas said the issue had been politicised. “Let them go to the court of law and settle the dispute there. We are not saying anything about it,” he added, making it clear that the CPM wanted to steer clear.

Seven members of the Jadavpur University court today met vice-chancellor A.. Bose and demanded an inquiry into the controversy. A few days ago, registrar Rajat Bandopadhyay told members of the court, the university’s apex policy-making body, that the institution had no record regarding Sarkar’s PhD degree.

Seven court members who met Bose today demanded that the university conduct a probe as Sarkar had served the institution as head of the department of Bengali.

Trinamul Congress MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said he will file a public interest litigation in the high court seeking an investigation into the controversy.