Delhi, Aug 25, KNT: The Delhi High Court has set aside the order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) that had directed Delhi University to disclose records pertaining to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bachelor’s degree. The court said that such information falls within the ambit of personal records and cannot be shared under the Right to Information Act.
Justice Sachin Datta pronounced the order while allowing the plea filed by Delhi University in 2017 against the CIC directive. A detailed copy of the judgment is still awaited.
The controversy dates back to 2016 when RTI activist Neeraj Kumar sought details of all students who appeared in the BA programme in 1978, including their roll numbers, names, marks and results. The Central Public Information Officer of Delhi University had denied the request, terming it “third party information.” However, CIC had directed disclosure, observing that educational qualifications of students fall within the public domain and that university registers are public documents.
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Challenging this before the High Court, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the varsity, submitted that while Delhi University had no objection to showing the Prime Minister’s degree to the court, it could not be placed before “strangers.” He argued that mere curiosity was insufficient grounds to invoke the RTI Act and stressed that the information was held in a fiduciary capacity.
On the other side, Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for the RTI applicant, contended that such information was routinely published by universities in the past on notice boards, websites and newspapers, and hence could not be treated as private.
Delhi University, while clarifying its position in 2017, said it had no difficulty in providing aggregate data on the number of students who appeared, passed or failed in the 1978 examination. However, it resisted sharing individual results with names, roll numbers and marks, arguing that the disclosure of such details would compromise the privacy of students.
With the latest order, the High Court has upheld the university’s stand and set aside the CIC directive, effectively ending the RTI battle over the Prime Minister’s graduation records. [KNT]
