With Governor Vajubhai Vala not approving a proposal by a three-member committee, Karnatak University, Dharwad, will not award any honorary doctorate during the 66th annual convocation of the university here on Sunday.
This is the second straight year that the university will not be handing out honorary doctorates. The proposal to confer the doctorates was sent to the Governor after being finalised by the committee, comprising Chief Justice of Guwahati High Court Justice Shridhar Rao and two former Vice-Chancellors, Hanumayya and Hiremath, ahead of the convocation.
Vice-Chancellor of Karnatak University Pramod Gai told presspersons on Saturday that Raj Bhavan authorities had informed him that the proposal had not been approved by the Governor, who is also the Chancellor of the university.
University authorities were hoping that, if not all, then some names in the list would be approved by the Governor, but none got the green light.
The list was sent to the Governor in a sealed cover as per the revised guidelines and process on awarding honorary doctorates.
Earlier, a three-member syndicate team recommended names to the Chancellor seeking consent for conferring honorary doctorates.
But under the new guidelines issued by the Governor, a three-member committee, comprising a High Court judge and two retired Vice-Chancellors, was constituted to finalise the names and send it to the Chancellor for the final approval.
Of the 21 applications it received, Karnatak University’s syndicate sub-committee had referred eight names to the expert committee formed and the committee had referred only three names to the Chancellor.
Those in the race for the honorary doctorates included K.M. Rajshekarayya, actor Ananth Nag and vocalist Sangeeta Katti from Bengaluru; B.V. Markandey from Udupi; Shivamurthy Murughasharanaru from Chitradurga; Basava Jayamrutyunjaya Swami of Kudalsangam, R. Balsubramanyam and Rajeev Taranath from Mysuru; Siddaram Sharanaru and S.M. Janwadekar from Bidar; Pandit Narasimhalu Wadwati from Raichur; Basavayya Shastri Hiremath from Gadag; N.R. Nayak from Uttara Kannada; Eshwar Kammar, psychiatrist Anand Pandurangi, Arya Acharya, Gayatri Desai, G.B. Sattur, Markandeya Doddmani and V.I. Airsangh from Dharwad.
Authorities were hoping that at least some names in the list would be approved
