The Delhi High Court on Monday quashed a CIC direction to disclose information pertaining to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bachelor's degree while holding it to be "personal information" and excluding any "implicit public interest" in it.
Justice Sachin Datta, who reserved the verdict on the issue on February 27, was acting on the plea of Delhi University challenging the CIC order.
The judge explained "something which is of interest to the public" was far from "something which is in the public interest".
After a request under the RTI filed by one Neeraj, the CIC on December 21, 2016, granted inspection of marksheets of all the students who passed the BA exam in 1978 -- the year Prime Minister Modi also passed it.
The high court, though, suspended the CIC order on January 23, 2017. On Monday, the ruling held there was no implicit public interest regarding the sought information in the RTI application and asserted that the educational qualifications were not of the nature of any statutorily prescribed requirement for obtaining any public office or performing official duties.
"Nor does the fact that information sought relates to a public figure put an end to privacy/confidentiality rights over personal information, unrelated to public responsibilities," the order stated.
The RTI Act had been enacted for publicizing government functioning and not to "provide fodder for sensationalism," it was stated.
"It is clearly evident that the 'marks obtained', grades, answer papers, etc., are in the nature of personal information and are exempted under Section 8(1)) of the RTI Act, subject to an evaluation of overriding public interest. The mere fact of publishing some information at some time does not water down the legal protection given to personal information under Section 8(I) of the RTI Act," the court held.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of DU, had submitted that the order of the CIC was worth being set aside.
He, however, stated that the university had no problem in producing its record before the court.
"University has no problem in producing the record before the court. There is a degree from 1978, bachelor of art," Mehta asserted.
DU objected to the CIC order on the basis that it was in a fiduciary capacity that it held information regarding students and "mere curiosity" without a public interest did not qualify any person to request private information under the RTI act.
The RTI applicants' counsel had earlier argued in support of the CIC order on the basis that Right to Information (RTI) Act made provision for disclosure of the prime minister's educational details in the larger public interest.
Read also| Jaishankar Denies Trump’s Claim: ‘We Do Not Accept Mediation in Our Relations with Pak’
