HC quashes order asking Gujarat varsity to provide details on PM Modi's degree

The Gujarat High Court on Friday set aside the sevenyearold order of the Central Information Commission CIC asking the Gujarat University to provide information on Prime Minister Narendra Modis degree to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind KejriwalAllowing the Gujarat Universitys appeal against the CIC order Justice Biren Vaishnav also imposed a cost of Rs 25000 on Kejriwal and asked him to deposit the amount within four weeks to the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority GSLSAJustice Vaishnav also refused to stay his order as requested by Kejriwals lawyer Percy KavinaIn April 2016 the then CIC M Sridhar Acharyulu had directed the Delhi University and the Gujarat University to provide information to Kejriwal on the degrees that Modi receivedThree months later the Gujarat High Court stayed the CIC order after the varsity approached it against that orderAlso Read Arvind Kejriwal blames PM Modi LG Saxena for stopping free Yoga classes in DelhiThe CIC order came a day after Kejriwal wrote to Acharyulu saying he has no objection to government records about him being made public and wondered why the commission wanted to hide information on Modis educational qualifications Based on the letter Acharyulu directed the Gujarat University to give records of Modis educational qualifications to KejriwalDuring the past hearings the Gujarat University vehemently objected to the CICs order saying irresponsible childish curiosity of someone cannot become public interest under the Right to Information RTI ActDuring the last hearing held in February Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the university claimed that there was nothing to hide in the first place because information about PMs degrees is already in public domain and the university had also placed the information on its website on a particular date in the pastCiting exceptions granted under the RTI Act for not complying with the order of the CIC Mehta had also argued that the RTI Act is being used for settling scores and to make childish jabs against opponentsCiting some past judgements of the Supreme Court and by other high courts about the exemptions granted under section 8 of the RTI Act Mehta also said that one cannot seek someones personal information just because one is curious about itThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever