Delhi University to HC on Modi’s degree: Interest to public not same as public interest

The DU holds students’ degrees and marksheets in a fiduciary capacity and a degree “is personal information for a student,” Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of DU, told the court.

He made the submission in a 2017 plea filed by DU challenging an order of the CIC, which had directed inspection of records of students who passed the BA programme in 1978.

“(A) third person cannot just walk in and say I want details of ‘ABC’ just because I am curious… The present case is a classic case of a busybody… University is under obligation to deny information of a private nature unless it is of public interest… Educational qualification is considered as private… (RTI is) abused, misused… it is a designation now, being an RTI activist,” Mehta submitted before the court.

“Mere curiosity that ‘I want to know about it what is your objection’ cannot be an argument. Public may get interested in something but it may not be public interest..Is there any public interest in this matter? Answer in the facts of this case is no,” Mehta said.

Mehta also relied on a decision of the Gujarat High Court in 2023 to quash a CIC order directing the Gujarat University to search for information about PM Modi’s degree from the varsity on the ground that the educational degrees of a student fall under the exemption of disclosure of personal information granted under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for the RTI applicant who had sought the information from DU, said in his counterargument that such information is considered public information, displayed in noticeboards and newspapers. “This is the information based on which people make decisions…even matrimonial decisions are made on whether they are a graduate or not…The fact that it refers to an old degree does not immunise it from being republished,” said Hegde.

Hegde impressed that “whether a person has passed or failed an exam, there is definitely public interest in its disclosure.”

“There may be offices which require qualification and offices which don’t….Public interest weighs towards disclosure and against concealment. Public interest in people holding elected offices require disclosures of a lot of things, including assets and liabilities…when it comes to a question of academic qualification of a person, what is a public authority obliged to do?” Hegde added.

The court kept the matter for further consideration on February 19.