ISLAMABAD: Another senior faculty member of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) was allegedly found involved in stealing more than 80 percent portion in his research papers from different sources, Daily Times has learnt. According to the available documents obtained from the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Dr Tassawar Hayat has nine plagiarised research papers of different titles. Interestingly, he is also a member of Plagiarism Standing Committee of HEC which is responsible to probe officials who are allegedly involved in such crimes. Besides, he is also a member of the committee formed by HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmad with mandate to probe the allegations of plagiarism against the commission’s executive director Dr Arshad Ali. However, despite repeated attempts, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad could not be approached for comment over this matter. The plagiarised research paper was titled Hall Effects On The Unsteady Hydromagnetic Oscillatory Flow Of A Second Grade Fluid published in the International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics. The available documents revealed that the paper consisted of 84 percent similarity index. Another research paper titled Stagnation Point Flow Of Maxwell Fluid was published in the Alexandria Engineering Journal in which 79 percent portion of the paper was copied from other sources instead of original writing. The journal belongs to the Alexandria University of Egypt. The research paper published in Elsevier journal, titled Periodic Unidirectional Flows Of A Viscoelastic Fluid With A Fractional Maxwell Model also consisted of 77 percent plagiarism. Dr Tassawar Hayat wrote another research paper titled Hydromagnetic Couette Flow Of An Oldroyd-B Fluid In A Rotating which was published in Elsevier journal having 62 percent similarity index with an already published one. Another such research paper consisted plagiarism of 95 percent. As per information, it was published in Elsevier journal, titled An Oscillating Hydromagnetic Non-Newtonian Flow In A Rotating System. His paper The Application Of Homotopy Analysis Method For MHD Viscous Flow Due To A Shrinking Sheet for the same journal is 72 percent copied. Research paper Heat Transfer In The Boundary Layer Flow Of Maxwell Fluid Over A Permeable Shrinking Sheet has a similarity index of 78 percent. While the paper Effect Of Heat Transfer On The Flow Of A Second-Grade Fluid In Divergent/Convergent Channel published in the International Journal For Numerical Methods In Fluids, comprised only 19 percent of its part which was original while 81 percent had been stolen from else sources. There are around 34 faculty members belonging to various universities across the country who have been blacklisted by HEC while a few of them were delisted last month. The Oxford dictionary defines plagiarism as “taking and using the thoughts, writings and inventions of another person as one’s own”. As per HEC Plagiarism Policy, after receiving complaints, the commission’s Plagiarism Standing Committee shall then conduct the investigation. If the accused is found guilty, he would be punished in accordance with the prescribed law. According to the law, there are three types of penalties for the offender; minor penalty, moderate penalty and major penalty. The punishment included in minor penalty is “warning, freezing of all research grants, the promotions/annual increments of the offender may be stopped for a specified period and HEC or the university/organisation may debar the offender from the committee”. Moderate Penalty includes “demotion to the next lower grade, the notification of Black Listing of the author(s) which may be published in the print media or may be publicised on different websites at the discretion of the vice chancellor/rector/head of the organisation”. While major punishments are “a major penalty of dismissal from service needs to be prescribed, along with the offender being Black Listed and may not be eligible for employment in any academic/research organisation and the notification of Black Listing of the author(s) may be published in the print media or may be publicised on different websites at the discretion of the VC/rector/head of the organisation”. When contacted, HEC Spokesperson Ayesha Ikram said that as per rules, the commission starts investigation after receiving some certain sort of complaint against any faculty member. “Under the newly introduced law, the complainant would also be blacklisted if the accused is found innocent,” she explained. Published in Daily Times, April 12th 2018.