Delhi High Court sets aside CIC order to disclose information on PM Modi’s degree

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Aug 25, 2025: The Delhi high court on Monday set aside the Chief Information Commission’s order that had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degree details be disclosed by Delhi University in response to a Right to Information (RTI) plea.

As per Justice Sachin Datta’s order from high court, there need not be any disclosure of the academic record and degree. A detailed order would be available later.

The parties can now approach the Supreme Court.

This legal battle has been on for nearly a decade over the disclosure of Prime Minister Modi’s academic records — actually, the record of all students who cleared the BA examination from DU in 1978, the year PM Modi graduated as per his election affidavit.

It started with a 2016 RTI application for this record. The university denied it, citing rules against sharing information related to a third party. The Chief Information Commission (CIC), however, did not buy this logic and in December 2016 ordered that DU permit the inspection.

The CIC order justified it saying that educational qualifications of a public figure, especially the PM, must be transparent. The CIC also held that the register containing this information would be considered a public document.

That’s the order against which the university went to the high court, where it was represented by Tushar Mehta, the Solicitor General of India, and its legal team. It argued that the right to privacy of thousands of students outweighed the public’s right to know.

Mehta has argued that releasing the data would set a dangerous precedent, potentially hindering the functioning of public authorities.

He further asserted that the university would be ready to present the record to the court for its perusal, but it should not be made public. It said there were individuals “seeking publicity or driven by political motives” who wanted the record.

But the activists seeking the record have contended that the RTI Act does not consider the identity or intent of the applicant.

A degree is a qualification granted by the state and is not a private matter, they have argued, adding that the PM’s educational qualifications are a matter of significant public interest.

The court had reserved its judgment on February 27.