Delhi High Court quashes CIC order on Modi's 1978 BA degree records

The Delhi High Court on Monday quashed a 2016 directive from the Central Information Commission that had ordered Delhi University to disclose details of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 1978 Bachelor of Arts degree. Justice Sachin Datta ruled that the university is not obliged to reveal those records, upholding the university’s position that student information is held in a fiduciary capacity and should be protected from public disclosure absent a substantial public interest. The decision comes after a long procedural path that included a stay on the CIC order in early 2017 and petitions brought by the university challenging the order.

The case began with an RTI application filed by an individual seeking records of all students who cleared the BA examination in 1978, the same year Modi is said to have completed the degree. The CIC’s 2016 directive permitted inspection of those records, prompting Delhi University to challenge the order in court. At the heart of the university’s challenge was the argument that the RTI Act is not a tool for satisfying mere curiosity, especially when information concerns private student data. The university maintained that it could disclose the...