PIL against D.Litt to CM is politically motivated'
Kolkata: The West Bengal government today told the Calcutta high court that a PIL challenging Calcutta University’s decision to confer honorary D.Litt to chief minister Mamata Banerjee was politically motivated.
Calcutta University is slated to confer the degree to Ms Banerjee, an alumnus of the university, at its convocation on Thursday.
Advocate-general Kishore Dutta submitted before a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice J. Bhattacharya and Justice Arijit Banerjee that the decision to confer the honorary degree was taken by the syndicate and senate of the university and there was no sufferance of public interest.
Dutta claimed that as such it should not be treated as a PIL and the petition should be dismissed.
Petitioner Ranjugopal Mukherjee, a former professor of the university, claimed that the decision to confer the award was arbitrary and opaque.
His counsel Bikas Bhattacharya submitted that university issues and education itself are of public interest and as such the petition was justified to be a PIL.
He submitted that the syndicate or senate decision did not attribute any reason for conferring the award on Ms Banerjee.