Indian Express: New Delhi:
Saturday, April 30, 2016.
The Central
Information Commission (CIC) Friday directed Delhi University and Gujarat
University to search and provide information on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
degrees to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The order
comes a day after Kejriwal criticised the CIC saying while it wanted him to
provide information regarding his electoral photo identity card, it was
“obstructing information” about Modi’s degrees.
Taking the
unusual step of considering Kejriwal’s response as an “application under RTI in
his capacity as a citizen”, Information Commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu also
directed the Prime Minister’s Office to provide “specific number and year” of
Modi’s degree and PG degree to Delhi University and Gujarat University “so that
it will be easy for them to search and provide any documents relating to it”.
Reached for
comment after the order, Acharyulu said: “I cannot comment anything about my
order.”
In a tweet,
Kejriwal said, “We welcome CIC decision. All speculations wud be put to rest
now.”
In the order,
while underlining that “not prescribing the educational (degree based)
qualification for contesting electoral offices is one of the great features of
Indian democracy” and “what is needed is education not degrees”, Acharyulu said
“when a citizen holding the position of Chief Ministership wants to know the
degree related information of the Prime Minister, it will be proper to
disclose”.
“The
Commission directs the PIOs of Delhi University and Gujarat University,
Ahmedabad, to make best possible search for information regarding degrees in
the name of “Mr Narendra Damodar Modi” in the year 1978 (Graduation in DU) and
1983 (Post Graduation in GU) and provide it to the appellant Mr Kejriwal as
soon as possible,” he said, adding that “the time limit is not prescribed
keeping in view the difficulty in searching without specific number”.
Acharyulu
said “educational qualification related information about public authority or
public servant or political leader occupying constitutional position is not hit
by any exception under Section 8 of the RTI Act. It cannot be stated as
personal or private information also. In fact, the information about
educational degrees of Prime Minister is already in public domain”.
He recalled
that “in an interview to a senior journalist, Mr Rajiv Shukla, Mr Narendra Modi
explained that he completed High School and on the advice of an elderly
personality, he obtained degree and PG through external examinations without
stepping into the colleges”.
“This
generated a lot of curiosity among the people, who expressed their feelings in
various social media and newspaper websites in the form of comments. The
curiosity cannot be equated with public interest. Just because the public is
interested in it, it does not mean that it is in public interest. There is no
educational qualification prescribed for contesting any electoral position
under law. The election to Lok Sabha or Prime Ministership cannot be questioned
on the point of educational qualification. Where there is a prescribed
educational qualification for a position, and its existence was doubted, its
disclosure will be in public interest,” the Information Commissioner said.
The order
comes in the wake of a CIC order and Kejriwal’s “written submission” where he
stated that while he was ready to share information sought by an RTI applicant,
the CIC must also order disclosure of education qualifications of the Prime
Minister.
In the case
of Hans Raj Jain, who had sought details of students who graduated in 1978 with
names starting with letters N (Narendra) and M (Modi), the CPIO of Delhi
University said “it will be very difficult to search with the starting letters
of the names… even with the full name Narendra, it may not be possible to
secure the details especially when there is no mention of specific roll number
along with the year number in the degree was allotted”.
The response
of the CPIO was upheld by the First Appellate Authority. Thereafter, Jain again
approached the CIC in November 2015. In its order dated April 11, 2016,
Acharyulu closed the matter saying “it is too difficult to search such names if
roll number is not provided as data is maintained roll number-wise”.
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