The Delhi High Court on Monday granted Delhi University (DU) an additional two weeks to file its objections in connection with an appeal concerning the refusal to disclose details of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bachelor's degree.
The counsel for the appellants urged the court to condone the delay, while DU sought dismissal of the appeal on grounds of delay at the very outset. The High Court had earlier given three weeks to the university to file its objections. However, on Monday, DU's counsel stated that objections to the delay would be filed within two weeks and requested that the issue be decided after filing the response.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia then scheduled the next hearing for August 20.
Earlier, DU, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, had argued that there was nothing substantial in the matter and that the appeal against a single-judge verdict was being pursued only to sensationalise the issue. The appeals have been filed challenging a single judge's order that set aside a Central Information Commission (CIC) decision directing the disclosure of PM Modi's degree.
The appellants include RTI activist Neeraj, Aam Aadmi Party's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh, and advocate Mohd Irshad. Last year, the single judge had set aside the CIC order, stating that merely because PM Modi held a public office, it did not render all his personal information subject to public disclosure. The judge ruled out any implicit public interest in the information sought and emphasised that the RTI Act was enacted to promote transparency in government functioning, not to provide fodder for sensationalism.
Following an RTI application filed by Neeraj, the CIC on December 21, 2016, allowed inspection of records of all students who cleared the BA examination in 1978, the year PM Modi also passed it. The single judge had passed a combined order in six petitions, including one filed by DU, challenging the CIC verdict that directed the university to disclose details related to Modi's bachelor's degree.
