Honourary doctorate for Mamata Banerjee? Calcutta University's decision challenged in HC

Kolkata: Calcutta University's decision to award an honorary D.Litt degree to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has landed in troubled waters. 

According to ANI, a PIL has been filed in the Calcutta High Court challenging the move.

The PIL has been filed by two individuals, Abu Taleb and Ranjugopal Mukherjee.

The high court has also decided to treat the case as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

According to reports, the case will come up for hearing before the Calcutta University on Wednesday.

It is to be noted that the University of Calcutta is scheduled to confer the degree upon the West Bengal Chief Minister on January 11. 

In their petition, the petitioners have argued that Calcutta University is a state-funded institution and will suffer a "credibility loss" if it confers the degree upon the highest executive authority of the state.

Petitioners also argue that serious doubts have already been raised in public domain over academic credentials of Mamata Banerjee including her so-called "Ph.D. Degree" which she herself refrains from using.

The university's decision had earlier met resistance from Mamata Bannerjee's political rivals for ‘blatant display of loyalty’.

“The event shows the extent of boot-licking and appeasement in the education system of the state,” Lok Sabha MP and CPI(M) politburo member Md Salim had said.

BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha had also taken a dig at the Calcutta University authorities for ‘stooping unimaginably low’.

Importantly, in March 1985, a leading English daily from Kolkata published a report claiming that the so-called East Georgia University from where Banerjee claimed to have obtained her Ph.D. degree doesn't even exist.

(With Agency inputs)