Along with Sen, classical vocalist Pandit Amiya Ranjan Bandyopadhyay and painter Jatin Das will also be conferred the degree by the university.

The announcement has been made by RBU Vice Chancellor (VC) Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury on Friday.

Though RBU wanted to confer D.Litt degree to Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, the university failed to get a positive response from the actor.

Basu Ray Chaudhury said: “We had proposed Amitabh Bachchan’s name which was also approved by Chancellor of the university (Keshari Nath Tripathi). We had approached Bachchan multiple times but the actor has very recently said he won’t be able to come to receive the award due to his busy schedule.

“He has expressed grief for not being able to come.”

Hirachand Dugar Memorial Award, which is conferred in every two years by RBU, will be given to artist Rabindranath Mondal.

The Akademi Award will be conferred to dancer Purnima Ghosh, theatre personality Pankaj Kumar Munshi, singer Ruma Guha Thakurta and sculptor Niranjan Pradhan in their respective categories.

Acharya Dinesh Chandra Sen Memorial Award will be conferred to Sukhbilas Barma for his research in folklore.

Professor Furqan Qamar, the secretary general of the Association of Indian Universities, will be the Chief Guest of the function on May 8. Qamar will also address the convocation address.

Vice Chancellor Tripathi, who is also the West Bengal Governor, will be present at the convocation.

(Reporting by Souvik Ghosh)