Hazaribagh, Jan. 4: Vinoba Bhave University (VBU), convocations of which were jinxed the last two times when the much-awaited academic events had to be rescheduled for want of a chief guest, is set to end its bad luck.

The Hazaribagh-headquartered varsity has not only finalised the date of its 7th convocation on January 9, Saturday, but has also roped in a high-profile chief guest to grace the occasion - President Pranab Mukherjee.

The President, who is already scheduled to attend two events in state capital Ranchi on January 10 - the 88th edition of Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan's national literary meet and the 26th convocation of BIT-Mesra - is expected to reach the state a day earlier to attend the VBU function, wherein over 3,000 students who passed from various colleges under the university, its postgraduate departments besides MPhil and PhD programmes in 2013-2014 will be awarded degrees.

Mukherjee will be handing over degrees to only gold medallists, a list of whom is yet to be prepared.

Another highlight of the function will be conferring of DLitt on former Union minister Yashwant Sinha.

Preparations have already started on a war footing under the monitoring of vice chancellor Gurdeep Singh.

"We had started preparations for the convocation right from December last year, but the date and the name of the chief guest were not finalised. Things gained pace when Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, confirmed on Saturday about Mukherjee's participation in the event as chief guestEverything is progressing fast and smooth. The vice chancellor further said that it was a matter of pride for the university that the President would be attending its convocation. The convocation, which will be held at Vinodini Tarwey Park on the university premises, will be also attended by other distinguished guests, including governor Droupadi Murmu, Union minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha and state HRD minister Neera Yadav.

The main pandal spread across 40,000sqft will have the capacity to accommodate more than 4,000 people.

"A helipad will be created on the campus where the President's chopper will land. Mukherjee will spend an hour at the programme starting from 3pm. He will leave for Ranchi at 4pm. Students and guests will have to take their seats by 1.30pm," another official said.

However, details of the President's itinerary are not available yet.

Mukherjee was supposed to be the chief guest at VBU's first convocation in 1995, but his chopper failed to land here due to heavy rain.

Though he didn't attend the function, but as a vice-chairman of the Planning Commission, he had given Rs 1 crore to the university with which the first building and central library were constructed.

In 2006, he attended the third convocation as Union defence minister.

Students of the 2013-14 batch, who wanted to be accorded the degrees at the 7th convocation, had been asked to fill up the requisite forms and submit the same at their respective colleges by January 18. Today, all colleges submitted the filled forms at the VBU's office in Sindoor.

While there was a mad rush at various colleges to submit the forms, confusion arose when students were told that they had to give a draft of Rs 800 and not of Rs 600 that they had attached with the forms. But many pointed out that it was written right on the form that they had to pay Rs 600 only.

Later, university officials clarified that the miscommunication took place as the forms, printed during the last convocation, had been circulated this time.

"That time, the charge was Rs 600, the amount mentioned on the forms. But we had announced the new rate of Rs 800 through advertisements in Hindi dailies," said an official.

Students can collect their gowns at the science block of the university on January 8.