A university professor is preparing to sue the South China University of Technology (SCUT) in Guangdong Province, which dismissed him for violating family planning regulations, the professor and his lawyer said Thursday.

The university's family planning office fired Cai Zhiqi, an associate professor at the school of chemistry, on November 19 after he and his wife had a second child, the university confirmed.

Cai and his wife had a child while he was studying in the US in 2007, and she fell pregnant again before he returned to work at SCUT in 2009.

"My wife was pregnant before we came back, and she gave birth to our second daughter in Tianjin in January 2010," Cai said. He received notification from SCUT's family planning office on May 31, asking him to submit materials to prove his eligibility to have a second child. If not, he would have to  quit and may be punished. 

Lu Miaoqing, Cai's lawyer, said that according to family planning regulations regarding studying overseas, if a couple has lived abroad for over one year, and they give birth or fall pregnant before coming back, they will not be punished for having a second child.

However, the family planning office of the university believes that the regulation requires the couple both to be studying overseas, and in Cai's case, his wife was only accompanying, not studying.

Yang Zhizhu, a former law professor at the China Youth University for Political Sciences who was dismissed for violating family planning policy, said that Cai should not be punished, as there is no definitive interpretation of the law.  

"But in Shanghai, the policy doesn't require both parents to be studying overseas," he said, adding that this makes more sense.