In the case related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s academic qualification, Delhi University on Monday told the Delhi High Court that the purpose of the Right to Information (RTI) Act is not to satisfy a person’s curiosity.

SGI Tushar Mehta previously submitted the application on behalf of the university Justice Sachin Datta.

The court was hearing DU’s plea filed in 2017 challenging an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) directing it to allow inspection of the records of students who had passed the BA program in 1978, as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved this examination. The order was stayed at the first hearing on January 24, 2017.

“Section 6 (of the RTI Act) mandates that information must be provided… But the RTI Act is not intended to satisfy the curiosity of any person,” SGI said.

Further, Mehta submitted that the RTI Act should not be misused by mandating disclosure of information that has “no relation” to transparency and accountability in the functioning of public authorities.

He said that any person can request the university to disclose his degree or mark sheet if the rules allow it, but Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act precludes disclosure of such information to third parties.

Mehta said that the impugned order of the CIC was contrary to the existing law.

“He wants everyone’s information about 1978. Someone can come and say 1979. Someone 1964. This university was founded in 1922,” he said.

The matter will now be heard later this month.

About the controversy

RTI activist Neeraj Kumar had filed an RTI application demanding the results of all students who had appeared in BA in 1978 along with their roll number, name, marks and pass or fail result.

The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of DU rejected the information saying it was “third party information”. The RTI activist then appealed to the CIC.

The CIC’s order, adopted in 2016, states: “After considering the case, the relevant legislation and previous decisions, the Commission finds that matters relating to the education of a (current/former) student fall within the public domain and therefore orders the competent authority.” to disclose information accordingly.”

The CIC had noted that every university is a public institution and all degree-related information is available in the university’s private register, a public document.

Before the Supreme Court, at the first hearing in 2017, Delhi University contended that it had not faced any difficulty in providing the requested information about the total number of students who appeared in, passed or failed the said examination.

However, when requesting details of all students’ results, as well as grade numbers, father names and grades, the university argued that such information was exempt from disclosure.

It was argued that it contained personal data of all students who had studied the BA course in 1978 and that this information was held in trust.

Title: University of Delhi vs. Neeraj Kumar