BMC commissioner and administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal has been conferred with a Honorary Doctor of Science Degree (honoris causa) by Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar, Punjab.

Chahal was conferred the degree during the 48th convocation of the University in Amritsar at the hands of Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit. The bureaucrat was awarded the degree in recognition of globally acclaimed performance during the Covid-19 pandemic in Mumbai and incomparable contribution to society.

The Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, established in 1969, is one of the premier universities in the country. “It is indeed a matter of great privilege and honour to receive Honorary Doctorate in Science (D Sc) from Guru Nanak Dev University. This is one more tribute to Team BMC who made this possible, which otherwise would have been beyond my imagination,” said Chahal.

In November 2021, Chahal was the first alumnus  to be honoured with a degree of Doctor of Science by his alma matar ,Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (TIET), for his "exemplary Covid management in Mumbai" as the chief of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

“From 1994 to 2013, there were seven recipients of this honorary degree but none of them were alumnus of Thapar Institute. They included personalities such as former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani and senior journalist Shekhar Gupta, among others. I am happy that I am the only alumnus to be given this honor. In the past eight years, no one got it,” Chahal had said.

Chahal, acknowledged as an icon has been awarded and felicitated several times over and caught world attention for his remarkably effective planning, hard work and honesty in handling the pandemic response in Mumbai and its slums including Dharavi. Chahal has been lauded by the supreme court as well as Bombay high court. He is empanelled in the rank of secretary by the union government. The bureaucrat is also the subject of book “Iqbal Singh Chahal: The Covid Warrior” by veteran journalist Minhaz Merchant.

The 1989 batch IAS officer is the son-in-law law of former Punjab chief secretary Ajit Singh Chatha.