'Incomprehensible': Congress on Delhi HC quashing CIC order to disclose PM Modi's degree details

The HC set aside a Central Information Commission (CIC) order directing disclosure of details related to Modi's bachelor's degree while holding it to be 'personal information' and ruling out any 'implicit public interest' in it.

New Delhi: With the Delhi High Court quashing a CIC order related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bachelor's degree, the Congress on Monday said it is incomprehensible why the educational degree details of the PM be kept a complete secret when such details of everyone else have always been public.

The high court on Monday set aside a Central Information Commission (CIC) order directing disclosure of details related to Modi's bachelor's degree while holding it to be "personal information" and ruling out any "implicit public interest" in it.

Justice Sachin Datta, who reserved the verdict on the matter on February 27, was acting on Delhi University's plea challenging the CIC order. The judge said "something which is of interest to the public" was quite different from "something which is in the public interest".

Reacting to the development, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "It is simply incomprehensible why the educational degree details of this particular PM should be kept a complete secret when such details of everyone else have always been and continue to be public."

"This incidentally was the reason why amendments to the RTI Act, 2005, were bulldozed through Parliament six years ago in the face of our determined opposition," Ramesh said.

The Congress leader also shared on X a video of his remarks in the Rajya Sabha during the debate on the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in which he had said that "this bill is a pill designed to kill", and will kill the RTI.

Following an RTI application by one Neeraj, the CIC on December 21, 2016, allowed inspection of records of all students who cleared the BA exam in 1978 -- the year Prime Minister Modi also passed it.

The high court, however, stayed the CIC order on January 23, 2017.

On Monday, the verdict found no implicit public interest with respect to the information sought under the RTI application and said the educational qualifications were not in the nature of any statutory requirement for holding any public office or discharging official responsibilities.

"The fact that the information sought pertains to a public figure does not extinguish privacy/confidentiality rights over personal data, unconnected with public duties," the order said.