Centre Holds Back Permission for Allahabad University D Litt Degree to Gulzar

Gulzar was supposed to receive the honorary degree from Allahabad University during a convocation on Monday.

Gulzar is the recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and a Grammy among other honours.

(Photo Courtesy: Vatsal Shah)

The Allahabad University (AU) will not be able to confer lyricist Gulzar with the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature (D Litt) during a convocation on Monday since the Union Ministry of Education hasn’t given permission for it.

AU’s Public Relations Officer Jaya Kapoor said, “We have still not received the approval of the Union Ministry of Education for conferring the honorary degree of D Litt on Gulzar and hence, he would not be attending the convocation ceremony,” according to IANS.

AU’s Academic and the Executive Council took the decision to confer the honorary degree on Gulzar and they sent a proposal to the Union Ministry of Education. However, the Ministry hasn’t responded to the proposal yet.

Anandiben Patel, Allahabad University’s Director, won’t be attending the function on Monday but Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan will attend as the chief guest. 263 medals will be awarded during the convocation and 550 students will get their PhD degrees.

Gulzar was a recipient of the Padma Bhushan award in 2004 and the Dadasaheb Phalke award in 2013. He also has five national awards, one Academy Award and a Grammy to his name. He was also honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award for Urdu in 2002.

(With inputs from IANS)