Anna University to take legal action against fake honorary doctorate awardees and organisers who misused university's auditorium

The fake doctorate degrees were awarded to over 30 persons by a private organisation, International Anti-Corruption and Human Rights Council, to celebrities like comedian Vadivelu
File photo of Anna University | Pic: Express
File photo of Anna University | Pic: Express

Anna University in Chennai on March 1, Wednesday announced that legal action would be pursued against individuals who had misused the university's auditorium and conferred counterfeit honorary doctorates, which included several celebrities. 

According to R Velraj, the Vice Chancellor of Anna University, the university had no involvement with the award ceremony. The International Anti-Corruption and Human Rights Council, a private organisation, conducted the award ceremony on February 2, and thirty individuals, including prominent Tamil comedian Vadivelu, were bestowed with fraudulent doctorates, as reported by The New Indian Express.

The Vice-Chancellor said, "We only provided our auditorium on rent to this private organisation and we have no role in the award ceremony. The organisers had not informed us earlier that they were going to organize such an award function and they printed the university's name on the invitation without our notice." He then added, "Since the organisation had a recommendation letter from Madras High Court's retired Judge TN Vallinayagam recommendation letter, we rented the auditorium to them for the event," stated The New Indian Express report.

Justice Vallinayagam was the chief guest at the event. The officials of the varsity said the organisers could have used a fake letter from Justice Vallinayagam to get permission to use the auditorium. Anna University officials also added that a case has been registered against the organisers by the police at the Kotturpuram police station. 

"We will initiate strict action against those who misused the name of the university," Velraj said. He also clarified that henceforth, the university will refrain from renting out its auditorium or any other space in the campus to any private organisation, stated the report by The New Indian Express. He also appealed to the people to be aware of the fact that honorary doctorates are only awarded by universities and not by private organisations.

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