This is an archive article published on June 9, 2023
Arvind Kejriwal seeks review of Gujarat HC order, says PM Modi’s degree not available on university website
In his review petition, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has also challenged the cost of Rs 25,000 that was imposed on him by the court for persisting with the matter of PM Narendra Modi’s degree.
3 min readAhmedabadUpdated: Jun 11, 2023 08:42 AM IST
Kejriwal has submitted in his petition that the display of “degree” on the varsity’s official website is taken as the preliminary and main ground for seeking a review of the court’s earlier order. (Express file photo by Abhinav Saha)
Arvind Kejriwal seeks review of Gujarat HC order, says PM Modi’s degree not available on university website
x
00:00
1x1.5x1.8x
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has moved Gujarat High Court seeking a review of its order in March where it had allowed a Gujarat University petition and quashed and set aside an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) that had directed the varsity to “search for information” regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degrees. The court of Justice Biren Vaishnav admitted the matter on Friday and issued rule to the respondent Gujarat University, Union of India, Chief Information Commissioner and then CIC commissioner Professor M Sridhar Acharyulu, who had passed the order.
The court is expected to take up the matter next for hearing on June 30.
The review petition moved by Kejriwal notes that while the court had recorded that PM Modi’s degree is available on the varsity’s website following submissions to that effect by Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, representing the university, “upon a scan of the said website…(it) is found that the said ‘degree’ is not available, but a document referred to as OR (Office Register) is displayed.” Pointing out that even the said OR “appears to be cryptic and without any seal or signatures of the authority,” its verification is “impossible”, the petition says.
Kejriwal has submitted in his petition that the display of “degree” on the varsity’s official website is taken as the preliminary and main ground for seeking a review of the court’s earlier order. It has further been submitted that with the non-availability of the degree on the website, the judgment thus “suffers from the error apparent on the face of the record and permitting them would lead to failure of justice”.
Pointing that Mehta had only orally submitted on the day of the hearing, that too for the first time, that the degree is available on the website, Kejriwal has pleaded that there was thus no opportunity for him to verify the oral submission and that OR cannot be considered as degree as was claimed by the varsity.
Kejriwal has also challenged the cost of Rs 25,000 that was imposed on him by the court for persisting with the matter of PM Modi’s degree, in his review petition. Submitting that the petitioner had not filed any application for any information and only wrote a letter in April 2016 in response to a letter by CIC, Kejriwal has added that he “never requested the CIC to treat him as an applicant for the purposes of the said information,” and that CIC had instead taken up the proceedings suo motu.
Kejriwal has sought a review of the judgment and a stay on the implementation, operation and execution of the verdict until final disposal.
Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court
Professional Profile
Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express.
Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare).
Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others.
She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020.
With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram
Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025)
Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles:
High-Profile Case Coverage
She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy.
Signature Style
Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system.
X (Twitter): @thanda_ghosh ... Read More
