According to UGC Regulations 2018 on Plagiarism, which of the following…
2024
According to UGC Regulations 2018 on Plagiarism, which of the following percentage of similarity in the thesis would result in the cancellation of a student's registration in the programme he/she is registered in?
Answer: D. 61% — ConceptThe UGC (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018 grade plagiarism in a…
- A.
42%
- B.
53%
- C.
58%
- D.
61%
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept
The UGC (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018 grade plagiarism in a thesis or dissertation on a four-level scale that is defined purely by the percentage of similar content detected in the script.
Each level carries one fixed, escalating penalty. So the penalty a student faces is decided by exactly one thing: which similarity band the measured percentage falls into. The bands are closed at the top and open at the bottom, i.e. a band runs from just above one boundary up to and including the next.
Level | Similarity in the script | Penalty prescribed for the student |
|---|---|---|
Level 0 | Up to 10% | Minor similarity; no penalty |
Level 1 | Above 10% and up to 40% | Submit a revised script within a period not exceeding six months |
Level 2 | Above 40% and up to 60% | Debarred from submitting a revised script for one year |
Level 3 | Above 60% | Registration for that programme is cancelled |
Applying it here
The penalty named in the question is cancellation of the student's registration in the programme. In the table above, that penalty appears at exactly one level: Level 3.
Level 3 is defined as similarity above 60%. So the qualifying percentage must be strictly greater than 60.
42%, 53% and 58% are each greater than 40 and not greater than 60, so all three sit inside the Level 2 band, whose penalty stops at a one-year debarment from resubmission.
61% is greater than 60, which places it in the Level 3 band, where the Regulations prescribe cancellation of registration.
Cross-check
Read the scale downwards and the same conclusion holds: cancellation of registration appears nowhere below Level 3, and the highest penalty available in Level 2 is a one-year bar on resubmitting the script, not removal from the programme. A useful boundary check is that 60% itself is still Level 2 — the Regulations say "above 60%", not "60% and above" — so only a figure past 60 triggers cancellation.
Note also that these percentage levels govern students submitting a thesis or dissertation; the Regulations lay down a separate schedule of penalties (withholding of increments, suspension from supervision, and so on) for faculty and other academic staff.
Answer: 61% similarity.