Anna University has filed a police complaint against an organisation that used its auditorium to present “honorary doctorates” to several celebrities allegedly using forged documents.
The university was taken by surprise when some celebrities claimed that they were misled into believing that the university was honouring them with doctorate degrees.
It all started in November when the Dean of the College of Engineering, Guindy, received a letter seeking permission to conduct an event at the auditorium.
“The organisation, using the nomenclature ‘International Anti-Corruption and Human Rights Council”, had approached the dean and sought to rent the auditorium. She denied permission saying the auditorium is not rented out to private organisations. In January, the organisation presented a letter stating that retired Madras High Court judge Justice T.N. Vallinayagam was its chairman,” said Vice-Chancellor R. Velraj. The Dean accepted the letter as it seemed to have been signed by the former High Court Judge, the Vice-Chancellor said.
The ceremony was organised between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on February 26, which was a Sunday, at the Vivekananda Auditorium on the Guindy campus. “The university is usually deserted on Sundays. The organisation has used the judge’s name with us and to the judge it probably presented as if the function is organised by the university,” said Prof. Velraj.
Around 40 persons, including actors, TV anchors, dancers and artistes, a popular music director and astrologers, received “honorary doctorates” from the judge. When the university got in touch with Justice Vallinayagam’s office, it learnt that the retired judge had not signed the letter. The organisation paid ₹58,000 as rent for the auditorium for half a day.
The Vice-Chancellor said when he got to know from media reports that the university’s name had been misused, he informed the Higher Education department officials and the Governor-Chancellor’s office who advised him to lodge a police complaint.
“It is a crime and the police have to investigate. We have lodged a complaint with the Kotturpuram Police Station,” Mr. Velraj said.
