D.Litt won’t be handed over on Convocation day at Rabindra Bharati

KOLKATA: The 45th Convocation ceremony at Rabindra Bharati University (RBU) scheduled to be held on May 8 will not see the conferment of honorary D.Litt.

The varsity had decided to bestow honorary D.Litt on author Ruskin Bond, mime artist Jogesh Dutta, singer Arati Mukhopadhyay and sculptor Raghav Kaneria.

This is perhaps the first time in the history of the varsity when honorary D.Litt will not be handed over on the day of the Convocation.

Sources in the university said that the busy schedule on the part of the Governor who happens to be the Chancellor of all state universities has resulted in the varsity’s decision of postponing the conferment of D.Litt.

The Governor will reach the varsity’s Jorasanko campus where the Convocation ceremony is being held at 8.55 am.

He will be there till 10 am. During such a short time, the conferment of D.Litt cannot be done, so the university may hold a special Convocation at a later date for presenting the honorary D.Litt.

A day before the event on May 7, Bose will be attending the special court meeting of RBU at Uday Shankar Hall at Sangeet Bhavan in the BT Road campus of the varsity.

The programme schedule released by RBU Registrar Subir Maitra also does not mention the conferment of D.Litt as decided by the university court in its last meeting.

The conferment of honorary Academy awards was also scheduled for May 8. The recipients included danseuse Priti Patel, dramatist Pradip Bhattacharjee, singer Chitralekha Chowdhury and artist Partha Pratim Deb. However, there will be no such presentation on the day.Earlier, the Convocation used to be held from 10 am to noon. However, this time the schedule has been curtailed because of the Chancellor’s busy schedule.