Modi degree case: ‘Is there any public interest?’ Delhi High Court asks RTI applicant

In a case pertaining to the veracity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s academic qualification, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked a Right to Information activist if there was any “public interest” in his request to obtain records of students who had cleared the Bachelor of Arts course from Delhi University in 1978, reported Bar and Bench.

The court was hearing a 2017 petition by Delhi University challenging an order of the Central Information Commission directing it to allow the inspection of records.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has claimed that Modi was awarded a BA degree from Delhi University in 1978 and a Master of Arts degree from Gujarat University in 1983.

Critics and the Opposition Aam Aadmi Party have alleged that the degrees are fabricated.

Appearing for Delhi University on Tuesday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the High Court that something of “interest to the public” is not the same as “public interest”, The Indian Express reported. Thus, no one can demand details of the degree under the Right To Information Act simply out of curiosity, he added.

Mehta added that the university holds details of all students’ degrees and marksheets only in a “fiduciary capacity” and that they were still matters of “personal information”.

Fiduciary refers to an organisation that is trusted to manage property for another entity.

Advocate Sanjay Hegde, representing the…

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