That is a codegened function it only exists in generated MetaDataGrid files.
I checked and it stays the same regardless of anything (it doesn't change at all).
So technically it could reside in some core class, but I think the reason it turned out like this is to remind that you should override this function in your MetaDatagrid class if necessary.
This problem could be fixed by moving this function do new QMetaDataGrid class that inherits QDataGrid, and make MetaDataGrid inherit QMetaDataGrid. That way this function would have its entry in API documentation and code duplication would be avoided.
I could make the change but I'd like to hear what Mike Ho thinks of this.