Dr Hasmukh Lal

The former chief executive of Pacific Technical and Further Education department Dr Hasmukh Lal says he was traumatized and under stress following his dismissal by University of the South Pacific in 2020.

Dr Lal has taken USP to court arguing that his dismissal on the allegation of plagiarism by Vice-Chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia was against procedures and didn’t allow him natural justice.

He alleges there was breach of contract by USP.

While taking the stand in the Employment Relation Court today, Dr Lal said he had worked on a research as part of his final project which was submitted for academic integrity.

Dr Lal was doing his doctorate from the Atlantic International University.

He says he did the oral defense to test his intellectual property which was conducted by an international expert.

He says a few weeks after he had conducted the oral defense he received a letter stating that no academic integrity was breached.

On the disciplinary process, Dr Lal says USP vice chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia should have recused himself and delegated a senior executive who didn’t have any conflict of interest to make a decision on him.