Appeals have been moved before a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court challenging the single-judge order that had quashed the Central Information Commission’s (CIC) 2016 directive to disclose details of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s educational qualifications.
The matter will be heard by a Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela. The appeals have been filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh, RTI activist Neeraj Sharma, and advocate Mohd Irshad.
The petitioners have questioned the August 25 order of Justice Sachin Datta, who had ruled that educational qualifications such as degrees and marks fall within the ambit of “personal information” under Section 8(1)(j) of the Right to Information Act (RTI) and cannot be disclosed unless a larger public interest is established.
In the order under challenge, the single judge had set aside the CIC’s December 2016 direction to Delhi University to allow inspection of records of students who graduated in 1978, the year PM Modi is said to have completed his BA degree.
Justice Datta had observed that “something which is of interest to the public” is different from “something which is in the public interest,” clarifying that public curiosity about an individual’s private details cannot override statutory protections of confidentiality.
The Court held that the university-student relationship is a fiduciary one, built on trust and confidentiality, and that the disclosure of marks or degrees to third parties would violate this duty.
The High Court had further noted that Delhi University functions as the custodian of students’ academic records, which are maintained under a legitimate expectation of privacy. It stated that “the framework does not permit disclosure of marks or grades to any third party,” underscoring that confidentiality is intrinsic to such relationships.
Appearing for Delhi University, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had argued that allowing such disclosures would invite politically motivated or publicity-driven RTI applications, contrary to the intent of the RTI Act. He added that while such records could be produced before a court if necessary, making them public would defeat the principle of fiduciary trust.
The case originated from RTI applications filed in 2016, which led the CIC to direct Delhi University to disclose details of PM Modi’s degree. That order was stayed by the High Court in January 2017 and later quashed by the single judge in August 2024. (ANI)
