Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
Presidential Award of Certificate of Honor to Scholars, the most coveted Certificate on scholarly contributions to listed languages including Classical Oriya, goes also to young scholars by the name of Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman. This Samman is awarded this year to one Subrat Kumar Prusty, a person of no good moral character and of known criminal antecedents, by way of fraudulent means, necessitating its annulment.
The Chief Secretary of Orissa, the Education Secretary of Orissa, the Vice Chancellors of all India Universities/Deemed to be Universities and all the Vice Chancellors of Orissa’s Universities were asked by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India to recommend “the names of only those scholars of eminence” for these awards in the prescribed “proforma” that are of good moral character of no criminal antecedents. It was stipulated that the recommending authority must declare on the basis of his personal acquaintance that the recommended scholar is of proven good moral character , having no criminal antecedents.
Mark below the proforma of Character & Antecedent Certificate, which the “Recommending Authority” is bound to fill up in his/her own hand, declaring therein that the recommended person is “known” to him personally for years and that, “he/she has no case pending against him /her in any Court of Law and that he/she has never been prosecuted /convicted in the past.”
In Prusty’s case, this stipulation is sloughed over.
The recommending authority has suppressed the fact that he is facing prosecution in a criminal case pending in the Court of the S.D.J.M. Bhubaneswar vide I.C.C.No. 4658/17. He has already appeared and his prayer for representation through a lawyer is pending. The Copy of the summons is placed below.
On the other hand he has no good moral character. The scheme of Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman stipulates that the nominee must be a person of good moral character. But, Prusty is officially observed to have resorted to plagiarism for personal gain, the victim being the officially produced researched document on Classical Oriya.
The Chief Secretary of Orissa is well aware of his criminal offence in stealing this copy-righted work of the Govt. of Orissa prepared by Odia Bhasha Pratisthan in support of the State’s claim for Classical Status to Oriya Language.
The living allegation is yet under the Chief Secretary’s scanner on being taken to records on 25.10.2017 at serial 27372 of the DR. And, that, enquiry has started with him asking the Secretary, Odia Language, Literature and Culture Department since 26.10.2017 is evidenced from GA & PG Department Letter No. 23571(e) dated 21.8.2019.
In response to allegation that the Official document claiming Classical status for Oriya has been stolen by Dr. Debi Prasanna Pattanayak and Subrat Kumar Prusty from the Odia Bhasha Pratisthan, when they were members in its drafting Committee, the Pratisthan Director in her Letter No.364 dt.14.7.2017 had confirmed that, the book published by KIS Foundation under the title Classical Odia, projecting both of these fellows as persons under whose overall supervision the same was prepared, is the same which the Government had prepared and copy-righted.
She had further disclosed in this Letter, that, this illegal act of plagiarism and contravention of the Government’s copy-right, has been reported to the Government for action at their end.
Thus it is clear that Subrat Kumar Prusty is not and never a person of good moral character.
Hence, the ‘Character & Antecedent Certificate’ given in favor of Subrat Kumar Prusty, which has helped him bag the Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman 2019, is blatantly false and fabricated.
He has no good moral character in view of the established plagiary he has perpetrated on the copy-righted official document on Classical Oriya and he has criminal antecedents for which he is being prosecuted in a criminal case in the Court of the S.D.J.M., Bhubaneswar, as shown supra.
The authority that has misled the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India to award him the Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman 2019 needs be subjected to necessary prosecution for this mischief and the award announced in favor of Subrat Kumar Prusty needs be forthwith withdrawn/nullified.
President of India shall have to immediately intervene and suspend the decision to award Subrat Kumar Prusty the Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman 2019, pending final annulment on investigation. The authority, who has given the false Certificate of Character & Antecedents in support of Prusty must have to be subjected to exemplary punishment for having misled even the President of India.