The Gujarat High Court on Friday ruled that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) need not furnish Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degree and post-graduate degree certificates.
A single-judge bench of Justice Biren Vaishnav set aside an order by the Chief Information Commission (CIC) asking the public information officer (PIO) of the PMO, and the PIOs of Gujarat University and Delhi University to file details of the prime minister’s graduate and post graduate degrees.
The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal
PM Modi had said that he had completed his graduation from Gujarat University in 1978 and post graduation from Delhi University in 1983.
The bench was hearing an appeal filed by the Gujarat University challenging the CIC order.
“In a democracy, there won’t be a difference if a person holding the office is a doctorate or an illiterate. Also, there is no public interest involved in this issue. Even his privacy is affected,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the university had said.
“We cannot be asked to furnish the information to satisfy someone’s childish and irresponsible curiosity. Also, it should be noted that the information sought has nothing to do with his (Narendra Modi
Appearing for Kejriwal, senior advocate Percy Kavina, countered Mehta’s submissions, saying, “If you see the nomination form (filed during elections), it mentions his educational qualifications. Thus, we are asking for a degree certificate and not his marksheet.”
He also said that the degrees were not available on the internet as argued by Mehta.
“An interview of him (Modi) with one Rajiv Shukla is available on the net and not the degrees. Thus, we sought copies of the degrees,” Kavina pointed out.