Delhi HC Refuses To Advance Date Of Hearing In PM Modi's BA Degree Case

In a case related to PM Modi's Degree in the Delhi high court, the court on Monday refused to advance the hearing of Delhi University (DU)’s plea against a Central Information Commission (CIC) order directing it to allow inspection of records of the students, who completed their Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1978, the year Prime Minister Narendra Modi also graduated from the Delhi University. In January 2017, the court stayed the CIC’s order.

A single-judge bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad issued notice to DU on an application seeking early hearing in the case and listed it for October 13, the date already fixed in the main matter.

The HC was hearing a plea moved by the University of Delhi against a December 21, 2016 order of the CIC, which had directed the varsity to facilitate inspection of the register where complete information about result of all students who cleared Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1978 along with roll number, names of students, father’s name and marks obtained is available. Besides, the university was asked to provide certified copy of the extract of pages from the register.

On January 23, 2017, the HC issued notice on the petition and stayed the CIC’s order with respect to DU providing information and details of students who had passed the BA exam in 1978.

The CIC's order came after following an application by an RTI activist who sought the records for the year Prime Minister Narendra Modi passed the Bachelor of Arts (BA) exam.

The petitioner did not receive details of the 1978 batch from the Varsity under the Right To Information (RTI) Act he filed. He challenged DU’s decision in the matter and the CIC overturned it saying matters relating to the education of a current or former student fall under the public domain.

In a similar case the Gujarat high court in March set aside the 2016 order of the CIC for providing information about Modi’s degrees to chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal under the RTI Act. It allowed the Gujarat University’s appeal against the CIC’s order and fined Kejriwal ₹25,000.

In April 2016, the then CIC, M Sridhar Acharyulu directed the Delhi and Gujarat varsities to provide information to Arvind Kejriwal regarding the PM's Degree. The Gujarat high court later in the same year stayed the order after Gujarat University approached it.