The case of alleged plagiarism by Kumkum Roy, Head of Department of Geography at the Allahabad University, for which the university had sought her explanation last month, has taken a curious turn.

In an e-mail reply to The Indian Express, Brian Joe Lobley Berry, the author, has denied any knowledge about the episode. Also, the legal representative that the company had named in its letter to the university has washed his hands off from the entire controversy. Earlier, Sydney-based publisher Prentice-Hall (PH) had threatened to sue Roy for allegedly plagiarising 11 pages from Brian Joe Lobley Berry’s book Geography of Market Center and Retail Distribution in a paper published in the department’s journal National Geographer in 1972.

The publisher had also demanded punitive action against the editor of the Allahabad Geographical Society (AGS), university-approved society responsible for publishing a bi-annual journal, for violation of the Copyright Act.

The letter from R W Taylor, Head of Legal Cell of Prentice Hall, which was earlier sent to the university read that Berry had agreed to overlook the mistake provided AGS in the next issue of National Geographer declared that the paper was a case of plagiarism. This, however, was not done.

When Berry, Dean of School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, University of Texas, was informed that Prentice Hall’s legal department had sent a notice to Allahabad University, he said: “Neither PH nor anyone else, save you, has informed me of this, thus I am at sea. I know nothing of these allegations: what, where or which book, since I have published seven books with PH.”

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