Ahmedabad
Mirror: Ahmedabad: Thursday, 17 September 2015.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi's past life seems to be attracting interest far and
wide. However, despite Modi being a public figure, an RTI application seeking
details of the MA course pursued by him in 1980s has been turned down by
Gujarat University. The applications were filed from Mumbai and Delhi
respectively. GU's top officials have said that marksheets being 'private
documents' of the students, GU cannot provide access to such information.
Besides information older than 20 years is not provided under RTI.
Commenting on
the development, GU Vice Chancellor MN Patel said, "We have received two
RTIs from Mumbai and Delhi. They sought information about PM's academic records
like marksheets from early 1980s, when he had pursued MA in political science
from GU. However, we have refused to provide the information." Patel
added, "Firstly, things like marksheets are private belongings of
respective students.
So, we cannot
give access to them. Besides, the information sought under these RTIs is more
than 20 years old. Information which is more than 20 years old does not fall
under RTI's ambit." "From the time of Tomar controversy, people seem
to have gained interest in RTIs. Everybody knows about PM Modi and his
life," Patel added. Meanwhile State Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi
said, "PM Modi is a public figure. People want to know about him. While on
one side, GU flaunts the fact that PM is their alumnus, on the other, they have
decided not to disclose information about him.
They are
giving different reasons for their decision. Even the Election Commission has
said that all details about leaders should be made public. GU's act makes
things more suspicious." GU sources added that Modi had completed his
Masters in Arts in political science with distinction in 1983. Sources have
further said that the RTIs sought information about students who did their MA
from GU in English and Gujarati medium between 1981 and 1984. The intention was
to camouflage the demand for Modi's records as the applicants feared the
university would never entertain specific request about the PM.
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