PM Modi's degree: Delhi High Court sets aside order

The Delhi High Court on Monday (August 25) set aside an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) directing disclosure of information on the bachelor's degree of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Justice Sachin Datta, who reserved the judgment on February 27, passed the verdict on Delhi University's plea challenging the CIC order. Following an RTI application by one Neeraj, the CIC on December 21, 2016, allowed inspection of records of all students who cleared the BA exam in 1978 -- the year Prime Minister Modi also passed it

At the time of arguments, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for DU, argued the CIC order deserved to be set aside for the "right to privacy" superseded the "right to know".

Mehta, however, had said the university was willing to show to the court its record pertaining to Modi's degree but cannot disclose the same for "scrutiny by strangers" under the RTI law.

The high court stayed the CIC order on January 23, 2017.

DU challenged the CIC order on the ground that it held the information of students in a fiduciary capacity and "mere curiosity" in the absence of public interest did not entitle anyone to seek private information under the RTI law.

Earlier, the counsel for the RTI applicants had defended the CIC's order on the ground that the Right to Information (RTI) Act provided for disclosure of the prime minister's educational information in greater public good.

(With Agency inputs)