Centre holds back nod for D.Litt. for Lyricist Gulzar

The Allahabad University (AU) will not able to confer the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) on noted lyricist and writer Gulzar since the Union Ministry of Education has not yet given the permission.

The convocation will take place on Monday.

Governor Anandiben Patel, who is the Director of AU, would not be attending the function due to a prior commitment.

According to AU Public Relation Officer, Jaya Kapoor, "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."

The decision to confer an honorary degree to Gulzar was taken by the varsity's Academic and the Executive Council. Following this, a proposal was prepared and sent to the Union Ministry of Education.

However, the Ministry did not respond to the proposal.

Union Minister for Education, Dharmendra Pradhan will be the chief guest at the convocation function.

A total of 263 medals would be awarded to meritorious students and 550 students would be awarded with Ph.D degrees in the event for academic sessions 2018-19 and 2019-20.