Chandigarh, July 30 (IANS) Panjab University authorities Saturday suspended an employee and ordered a five-member committee to probe the omission of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's name in the list of distinguished people awarded honorary doctorates in the past over 60 years.


The list of 74 distinguished people, who have been awarded various honorary degrees by the university was supplied recently by the university to Right to Information (RTI) activist Rajinder K. Singla.

Manmohan Singh was awarded the Doctor of Laws degree (honoris causa) at a special convocation November 2009. But this information was missing from an otherwise complete list of 74 names provided to the applicant.

"We have taken serious note of this lapse and the concerned employee has been placed under suspension. Further action will be taken as per the recommendations of the committee", PU registrar A.K. Bhandari said here Saturday.

Manmohan Singh was a student of the university in the 1950s and later joined service here as a lecturer in economics. He rose to become a professor in the same department at the young age of 32 before leaving the university.