Gujarat High Court on Friday quashed and set aside orders of the Chief Information Commission directing Gujarat University and the Public Information Officer of the Prime Minister to furnish details of Narendra Modi‘s Bachelor’s Degree.
The bench of Justice Biren Vaishnav also imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who had sought copies of the degrees of PM Modi from Gujarat University and Delhi University, Bar and Bench reported.
The 2016 order of the CIC directed the Gujarat University to provide “information regarding degrees in the name of Mr Narendra Damodar Modi” to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal under Right To Information. Gujarat University moved the High Court against the CIC direction.
The University was holding the information on PM’s degree in a fiduciary capacity and as per Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI.
The information held in a fiduciary capacity cannot be disclosed “unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information”, Live Law explained.
Controversial Modi’s degrees
Modi’s educational qualifications have been in question since he was running for the top post in 2014. Modi claims that in 1978, he received a BA degree in political science from the School of Open Learning (SOL) at the University of Delhi. But to prove it, Delhi University’s School of Open Learning (SOL) says it doesn’t have records for that year as these are maintained only for one year.
A former professor of Gujarat University has claimed there are several discrepancies in Modi’s MA degree from the varsity. In a Facebook post, Jayanti Patel, who was a political science professor, said the subjects mentioned in the degree were not part of the university’s syllabus when Modi was studying there.
