New Delhi: The Delhi HC has set aside a Central Information Commission (CIC) order asking to Delhi University to disclose information on Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s bachelor degree.
Justice Sachin Datta gave the order on Monday.
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During the course of the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for DU, argued that the order “deserved to be set aside for the “right to privacy” superseded the “right to know”.
Mehta, added that the university was willing to share with the court its record related to the PM’s degree.
However, it cannot reveal the same for “scrutiny by strangers” under the RTI law, News 18 wrote.
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The CIC following an RTI application on December 21, 2016, had made way for the inspection of records of all students who cleared the BA exam in 1978.
Modi also cleared BA the same year.
The high court stayed the CIC order on January 23, 2017.
There’s no doubt that the HC order comes as a huge relief for the University which has been battling this contentious issue for long.
DU had countered the CIC order stating 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,” News 18 writes.
The lawyer for the applicants had spoke in favour of the order.
According to them, the RTI Act underscored disclosure of Modi’s academic information for public good.
PM to head panel
Meanwhile in another development, Prime Minister Modi will head panels for celebrating the birth anniversaries of Sardar Patel, Birsa Munda and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, reports news agency PTI.