The High Court today (August 14, 2022) formed a seven-member expert committee to formulate a guideline in order to prevent plagiarism in PhD thesis in all public universities across the country.

The committee has been asked to submit a report to the HC in three months.

The committee members are former DU vice chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique; former Shahjalal University of Science and Technology Prof Zafar Iqbal; former University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman Prof Abdul Mannan; Chairperson of computer science and technology of DU Prof Saifuddin Md Tareeq, prof of law department of DU Prof Nakib Muhammad Nasirullah and Professor Mahbuba Naznin and Professor Mostofa Akbar from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

The UGC has been asked to provide necessary assistance to the committee, Deputy Attorney General Tushar Kanti Roy told The Daily Star.

The HC bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil came up with the order during hearing a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Md Moniruzzaman Lincon seeking necessary orders.

He submitted the writ petition on January 26, 2020 based on a report published in Prothom Alo's online version on January 21, 2020, saying that 98 percent of the thesis of DU Associate Professor Abul Kalam Lutful Kabir was not original.