Gaya: The Magadh University is yet to implement the Shodhganga scheme to stop plagiarism.

Shodhganga is a digital repository of theses and dissertations submitted to Indian universities. It is maintained by INFLIBNET Centre which is an autonomous Inter-University Centre of the University Grants Commission.

The university had earned a bad name for the award of dubious and fake degrees and in the annual meet of the university senate, VC Qamar Ahsan said. Police from more than half-a-dozen states, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab and Haryana frequent the university headquarters to investigate cases in which people have obtained jobs on the basis of fake MU degrees.

Soon after taking over as MU VC in March this year, Ahsan said the UGC regulation would be implemented to check plagiarism.

On the delay in MU joining the Shodhganga project and electronic submission of theses and dissertations, the VC reiterated his commitment to cleanse the academic mechanism and stop degree peddling and re-cycling of old theses. The proposed digitisation programme will take care of the malaise, said the VC.

A vigilance probe is in progress on the issue foreigners, mostly from Thailand and several other South Asian countries having been allegedly awarded PhD degrees without even visiting India.

There is little evidence of such PhD degree recipients having pursued the course for obtaining PhD degrees, such as student visa, field study documents, local residence, arrival/departure records, NOC and proof of academic eligibility for PhD registration, said a police officer associated with the vigilance inquiry.

Nearly half-a-dozen ex-MU VCs, including SC Mukherjee, a former high court judge have been chargesheeted in different criminal cases involving degree scams. Three of the chargesheeted ex-VCs have even been to jail (Mukherjee was granted conditional bail by the high court with the observation that ex-judges should restrain from such controversial assignments).