The Delhi University (DU) notified the Delhi High Court that it cannot disclose the records of 1978 batch of students under the RTI Act. For those who don’t know, 1978 is the same year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi graduated.
The submission came in an affidavit not yet taken on record by the court. It had earlier closed the right to file further replies in the matter. Central Information Commission (CIC) had directed for the inspection of records of students who had passed BA examination in 1978. Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu gave the directive. The CIC had rejected the debate of the Central Public Information Officer of the University that it was third party personal information. CIC said it finds “neither merit nor legality” in it.
However, Acharyulu was stripped to HRD Ministry after he passed the orders. Thereafter an order was issued for reallocation of work among the information commissioners. The court had on January 23 last year put on hold the operation of the CIC order.
May 22 is listed as the day for the further hearing of the matter. The Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta is appearing for DU. He has incessantly opposed the plea of the RTI activists, terming their interests as vested.
The central government affidavit filed through standing counsel Arun Bhardwaj says that the result of a student once declared is accessible only to that student and is “personal” to her or him. Also, the university added that revelation of exam results could lead to public embarrassment or disturbance of his/her routine life.
The DU’s School of Open Learning (SOL) has blatantly denied keeping records of that year’s examinations. If it is to be believed, PM Modi graduated from SOL.
The controversy over PM’s degree first surfaced when Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal put to doubt his educational qualification.