PM's degrees exempt from disclosure under RTI: Gujarat HC

'Doesn't the country have the right to know how much their PM has studied?,' Kejriwal asked after the judgement

The Gujarat high court Friday set aside the Chief Information Commission's direction to Gujarat University to provide Prime Minister Narendra Modi's master's degree to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Holding that "in absence of any larger public interest", the educational degrees of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are exempted from disclosure under the RTI act, the single-judge justice Biren Vaishnav imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Kejriwal for seeking such information through RTI.

The 79-page judgement notes that in absence of any valid ground of public interest, "this court finds that the application made by respondent no 2 (Kejriwal) also fails to qualify the public interest test contemplated in Subash Chandra Agarwal, (Supra) due to ostensible motive and purpose which appears to this court to be more politically vexatious and motivated, instead of, being based on sound public interest considerations."

Following the judgement, the Delhi chief minister tweeted, "Doesn't the country have the right to know how much their PM has studied? In the court, he vehemently opposed revealing the degree. Why? And those who want to see his degree will be fined? What is happening? Illiterate or less educated PM is very dangerous for the country."

Justice Vaishnav passed the order on a petition moved by the state-run Gujarat University in 2016 against a direction issued by CIC, New Delhi directing it to provide information to Delhi CM Kejriwal on the post-graduation degree of PM Modi. The then CIC commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu had issued the direction to the Prime Minister's Office to provide information on Modi's graduation and post-graduation degrees to GU as well as Delhi University to help them in searching those documents.

GU approached the court stating that CIC didn't have jurisdiction to pass such an order and pleaded with the court to quash it. Kejriwal had never filed any formal RTI application. It happened after he provided information to CIC about his electoral photo identity sought under RTI but criticised the commission publicly saying that it was "obstructing information on Modi's degrees." The commission issued its direction based on Kejriwal's oral submission on a public platform.

The high court has held the commission shouldn't have entertained the oral request of Kejriwal and suo moto converted it into an RTI application.

"...the Commission transgressed its jurisdiction and embarked into an arena of political thicket and ventured into judicial activism on being overwhelmed by the fact that the information is sought by a citizen occupying the post of Chief Minister and thus is liable to be disclosed. This, in the opinion of the Court, is a clear transgression of the jurisdiction vested upon the Commission under the provisions of the RTI Act making the impugned order dated 29.04.2016 completely unsustainable in the eyes of law," justice Vaishnav has noted.

He has added that Kejriwal "doubtlessly used an appeal against him to kick start and trigger a controversy not falling within the purview of the RTI Act for the objects and purpose this court need not go into." The court held that "in absence of any larger public interest, which is neither pleaded nor raised, the educational degrees of Narendra Damodardas Modi are exempted from disclosure under the provisions of section 8(1)(e) and (j) of the RTI Act."

The order says that Kejriwal "Having found both the requests by Respondent No.2 (Kejriwal) and the order by the CIC being absolutely causal and having found that neither such request was competent nor such an order could have been passed and keeping in view the salutary object of the RTI Act, this court thinks it fit to allow the present petition with a direction to Respondent No.2 to pay costs."

The order added that "despite the degree in question" published on the website of Gujarat University, Kejriwal persisted with the matter, which was another reason to impose costs on him.