Modi degree case: HC allows intervention of RTI activists

The Delhi High Court has allowed the Right to Information activists to intervene in the matter pertaining to the information about students who graduated from the Delhi University in 1978, the year Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to have completed his graduation.

The intervention was allowed by Justice Rajiv Shakder of the Delhi High Court. The plea filed by Anjali Bhardwaj, Nikhil Dey and Amrita Johri were opposed by the additional solicitor general, Tushar Mehta.

Mehta told the court that the activists from the National Campaign for People's Right to Information should not be allowed. This is a matter of grave public importance and any interpretation by the court in this regard would have serious ramifications on the RTI regime in the country.

The Wire had reported that the RTI activists had contended that the Delhi University's challenge to the CIC order directing it to disclose the names of all students who graduated with a BA degree in 1978, was bad in law. They had noted that while such information was readily provided by prominent foreign universities, Delhi University had also erred in citing various provisions of the RTI Act in trying to block the disclosure of information, which is over 20 years old, it was also reported.

Delhi University had challenged the CIC's 2016 order on the grounds that it violated the RTI Act's provision pertaining to privacy (Section 8(1)(j)) that it is in possession of the information being sought in a fiduciary capacity under section 8(1)(e) of the Act.

OneIndia News