Times of India: New Delhi: Friday,
January 13, 2017.
Days after he
ordered Delhi University to disclose records of BA degrees granted in 1978 —
the year in which PM Narendra Modi is said to have received his bachelor's
degree, information commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu has been asked to stop
hearing cases related to the HRD ministry.
Chief
information commissioner R K Mathur issued the order on January 10,
transferring all pending cases except those in which notices have been issued
to another information commissioner Manjula Parasher.
In a series
of orders, Acharyulu had come down heavily on the university for not providing
information, which in his view, was in public interest. BJP leaders had claimed
last year that Modi had completed his BA in political science from distance
learning programme of the university in 1978. This was later corroborated by
Delhi University registrar Tarun Das.
Acharyulu's
order, dated December 21, was on the plea of applicant Neeraj who had sought to
know from the university the total number of students who took the BA exam in
1978, their names and those of their fathers, roll numbers and marks obtained.
Denying the information, DU's central public information officer (CPIO) had
said the information requested was "personal information of the students
concerned, the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity
or interest".
Acharyulu,
however, said, "The PIO has not put forward any evidence or explained
possibility to show that disclosure of degree-related information infringes the
privacy or causes unwarranted invasion of privacy." Quoting orders from
the United States and others, he held that the information was in fact in
public interest.
Earlier,
Acharyulu in response to another RTI, had fined the university's CPIO Rs 25,000
for rejecting an RTI application seeking PM's graduation degree. The RTI filed
by a Delhi-based lawyer was rejected on the ground that the Indian postal order
was not marked in favour of the registrar of the university.
.JPG)
.JPG)
