Former MP's son awarded PhD, social media debates University's 'quick response'

MUMBAI: In a rare instance, the Mumbai University has made news for acting promptly in the case of a candidate who submitted his PhD thesis in August and was called for his viva-voce in about a month and a half and awarded his PhD the very next day. Neil Kirit Somaiya's degree has gone viral on social media for passing through the 'express channel' of Mumbai University.
While the certificate states the date of registration as June 2021 and the award of PhD as October 1, 2022, Somaiya, the son of former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, signed up for his doctoral studies in 2017 at the Sydenham Institute of Management Studies.
While many on social media wondered how Somaiya, who has been a municipal councillor, completed his PhD within a year, his guide MA Khan clarified that it was his PhD research topic that underwent "modification" in 2021, following which he submitted his thesis after a year in August 2022. He too wondered why the university skipped mentioning the PhD registration date of 2017 with the research centre.
"All processes have been followed," said his guide Khan. "The only point here is that the university has avoided delay and acted very fast which they generally do not do in all cases after the submission of the thesis." Somaiya's research topic was submitted for approval in March 2020, but not taken up the university due to Covid until 2021. When it came up for approval, there was some delay in registering the topic as the Research and Recognition committee suggested some changes in the topic, added Khan.
Neil Somaiya who shared his 2016's PhD entrance test result and the PhD admission fee challan of 2017, told TOI "The amount of preparation and hard work for my PhD thesis is similar to that of any other student."
Mumbai University spokesperson said, "Somaiya's PhD registration on 1st June 2021 and thesis submission on 17th August 2022 i.e. after 14 months, is well within rules of minimum period of one year (12 months) required for submission of thesis after registration as per section 7 sub-section 3 of VCD / 947 of 2018."