Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday admitted a petition against Calcutta University's decision to award an Honorary D.Litt. degree to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The case by two individuals, Abu Taleb and Ranjugopal Mukherjee, found mention at the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya on Monday, following which the Bench directed the duo to file an appropriate petition.
Court has decided to hear the petition on Wednesday, January 10, a day before the University is scheduled to confer the degree upon the West Bengal chief minister, and treat it as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
The petitioners argue 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 could be bogus and which she herself refrains from using.
In March 1985, a leading English daily from Kolkata carried 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.
Comments
0 comment