Govt denies Jamia's request to award alumnus SRK with honorary doctorate

Mumbai: The HRD Ministry has denied a request from Jamia Millia Islamia to award an honorary doctorate to Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan.

The Indian Express' reported the ministry refused to give the degree to the former student of the university, saying it would not be in order as he had already received a similar one from the Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU). There is, however, no bar on such practice.

As per the report, the HRD Ministry sent a letter to the university on April 11, stating: “It has been observed that Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad has already conferred Honorary degree on Shri Shahrukh Khan in December 2016. Therefore, a view has been taken that two doctorate degrees for the same person would not be in order.”

The Higher Education Secretary R Subrahmanyam stated, “Since 2014, there has not been any instance where the same person has been awarded an honorary doctorate in more than one central university.” “Whenever there is a recommendation of the Executive Committee seeking approval for awarding an honorary doctorate, we check whether the same person has been awarded the same honour by another central university; and whether there is any conflict of interest,” he added.

SRK was a master’s student of Jamia’s AJK Mass Communication Research Centre from 1988-90. However, he couldn’t appear for his final year exams due to shortage of attendance.