The Delhi High Court Monday set aside the Central Information Commission (CIC) order that had directed Delhi University (DU) in 2016 to disclose information pertaining to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degree.
Justice Sachin Datta, pronouncing the verdict in a bunch of petitions pertaining to disclosure of the information, said in open court that the impugned order of CIC is set aside. The verdict came nearly six months after the court had completed hearing and reserved for orders on February 27.
A detailed order is yet to be made public.
In 2017, the varsity, in a plea moved before the HC, had challenged the CIC’s order that had directed the inspection of records of students who passed BA Programme from the varsity in 1978 — the year when Modi graduated from the university with a bachelor’s degree. The CIC order had come in relation to an RTI application.
In all, the HC was dealing with six petitions — which included four filed by DU — challenging the December 2016 CIC order.
The university’s pleas have been filed against the various RTI applicants – Neeraj Kumar, Mohd Irsad, R K Jain, and others.
Among the petitions filed by DU, one also challenged a CIC direction in the 2016 order. It had directed the university to recover Rs 25,000 from the salary payable to the Central Public Information Officer in five equal monthly instalments for rejecting an RTI application, as the fee for the same was not paid.
The fifth petition was filed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) against one Mohd Nashadudin and others. The Board has challenged a January 2017 order of the CIC to facilitate inspection of records and provide certified copies of documents selected free of cost, except personal details in admit card and marksheet. Nashadudin had sought copies of Modi’s admit card and marksheet in an RTI application moved in 2015.
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The sixth petition was filed by Delhi-based lawyer Mohd Irsad, challenging the rejection of his RTI application seeking information about Modi’s degree. The application was rejected on the ground of non-payment of the RTI fee to the authority concerned at the appropriate time.
DU had argued that it holds degrees in fiduciary capacity and such information qualifies as personal information.
It had also relied on a 2023 order of the Gujarat High Court, where it had quashed and set aside a similar order of the CIC that had directed the varsity to “search for information” regarding the PM’s degrees at Gujarat University (GU) in 1983. GU had challenged the CIC order.
