Ahmedabad, Sep 30 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s educational degree is a matter of personal information, and the Central Information Commissioner (CIC) should have left its disclosure to the discretion of the individual concerned rather than directing the Gujarat University to do so, the Gujarat High Court has said.
While rejecting Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal’s appeal against a single bench order quashing the CIC’s 2016 order and imposing a cost of Rs 25,000 on him, a division bench noted Modi’s degree was “exempted personal information of an individual falling within the ambit of section 8(1)(e) and (j) of the RTI Act, 2005 and the respondent University cannot be asked to disclose the same.”
“None of the information directed to be disclosed can be said to be necessary for disclosure in public interest or larger public interest,” observed the division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice DN Ray in its order passed on Tuesday, details of which was made available on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the HC rejected Kejriwal’s appeal against an order that set aside a directive asking the Gujarat University (GU) to disclose Prime Minister’s academic degree. It upheld the single judge’s order, finding no grounds to interfere with the decision quashing the CIC directive and imposing a cost on the former Delhi CM.
As far as the CIC’s observations related to general curiosity among the people about Modi’s educational degree is concerned, its disclosure should have been left to the discretion of the individual concerned (PM) who is holding the public office, the HC said in its detailed order.
Information regarding the country’s Prime Minister would not automatically fall within the purview of ambit of the “public interest or larger public interest,” the exception to the exemptions under section 8 (1)(e) and (j) of the Right to Information Act (RTI Act), the high court noted.
The section provides key exemptions that protect fiduciary relationships and personal privacy from mandatory disclosure, unless overridden by a larger public interest.
The HC observed that even a public servant being a citizen of the country cannot be compelled to disclose his personal information merely because he is holding an office or is a public servant, unless and until he or the authority holding the information are obliged is disclose it under the RTI Act.
Kejriwal’s lawyer Abhishek Singhvi, assisted by advocate Aum Kotwal, had told the court earlier that since the GU made the declaration that it has uploaded the said degree on its website on May 9, 2016, no cause of action survived for it to file a writ petition challenging the CIC’s order.
The appellant (Kejriwal) was not persistent with the matter, as noted by the single judge, and hence there was no reason for the cost of Rs 25,000 imposed on him, Singhvi argued.
The issue as to whether the CIC order is hit by section 8 of the RTI Act would not arise in a case where the information is already displayed to people by putting it up on the website, said the noted lawyer.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the GU, contended the CIC order was in contravention of both the provisions of the RTI Act and the law laid down by the apex court and various HCs on the subject.
He sought from the high court to impose a cost on Kejriwal for filing his appeal, to ensure that the RTI Act is not misused and government officials are not made to spend productive working hours dealing with requests that do not serve the landmark legislation’s purpose.
In 2016, Kejriwal had written a letter to the CIC demanding that Modi’s degree be made public. In April 2016, the then-CIC M Sridhar Acharyulu directed the Delhi University and the GU to provide information to the AAP leader on the degrees that the PM received.
Three months later, the Gujarat High Court stayed the CIC order after the varsity approached it against that order.
The CIC order came a day after Kejriwal wrote to it, saying he has no objection to government records about him being made public and wondered why the commission wanted to “hide” information on Modi’s educational qualifications.
Based on the letter, the CIC directed the GU to give records of Modi’s educational qualifications to Kejriwal.
The GU vehemently objected to the CIC order, insisting “irresponsible, childish curiosity” of someone cannot become public interest under the RTI Act.
In May 2016, the then-GU Vice-Chancellor MN Patel disclosed that Modi completed his MA in Political Science in 1983 from the university with 62.3 per cent marks as an external student.
While posting Modi’s degree on its website, the GU also challenged the Central Information Commissioner’s order in the HC, with the single bench quashing the CIC’s directive and pulling him up for venturing into “judicial activism”.
Kejriwal then challenged the single judge’s order before the HC’s division bench. PTI KA PD RSY
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