Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has quashed the Central Information Commission’s order to provide information on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s master’s degree.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had written a letter to the Central Information Commission in 2016 requesting to provide a copy of the MA degree certificate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Considering his bite, the then Central Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyalu ordered Gujarat University, where Narendra Modi studied, to provide Arvind Kejriwal with a copy of Prime Minister Modi’s master’s degree certificate.
The Gujarat University filed a case in the Gujarat High Court challenging the Central Information Commission’s order. The case came up for hearing before Gujarat High Court Judge Brene Vaishnav. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the university, said, “Under the Right to Information Act, students cannot be given copies of degree certificates. This is a violation of individual rights of students. The details of the Prime Minister’s degree are already in the public domain. It is already published on the university website. “Using the RTI Act for political reasons is childish,” he argued.
Senior advocate Percy Kavina, appearing for Arvind Kejriwal, strongly opposed this. He said that the information about the Prime Minister’s degree is not in the public domain as stated by the Solicitor General. He also questioned what prompted Gujarat University to file a case against the Central Information Commission’s order.
Earlier, in July 2006, the Gujarat High Court had granted an interim stay on this order of the Central Information Commission.
Following the completion of arguments from both sides, Justice Bren Vaishnav delivered the verdict in this case today. In it, “Gujarat University is not required to provide a copy of the degree certificate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He ruled that Arvind Kejriwal, who pursued this case, will be fined Rs.25,000.
After this verdict, Arvind Kejriwal commented on this on his Twitter page, “Doesn’t a country even have the right to know the degree course of the Prime Minister? Why is there a strong objection to show the certificate copy in the court? Is it wrong to see a copy of his graduation certificate? What’s going on? An uneducated or under-educated Prime Minister is dangerous to the country,” he said.