The Delhi High Court on Wednesday flagged the delay by the four petitioners in filing appeals seeking disclosure of information relating to Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi's degree..The appeals filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh, Right to Information (RTI) activist Neeraj Sharma and advocate Mohd Irshad (petitioners/ appellants) have challenged a single-judge's August 25 order which quashed the Central Information Commission's (CIC) order of December 2016 to disclose PM's degree details.Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat, appearing for one of the appellants today said the case involves two questions - whether exemption under Section 8 of Right to Information Act (RTI Act) applies and even if they apply, were the disclosure of degree was in larger public interest.A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela today noted that the appeals against the single-judge judgment were filed beyond the limitation period and hence, said the Court will first hear the matter on that aspect before examining the merits of the case.The Court asked the Delhi University (DU) to file its objections on the delay.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for DU, said that he has not gone through the reasons cited by the petitioners for the delay, but he has no hesitation in arguing the case on merits as well. "SG Mehta appears for the respondents. Objections to the condonation of delay application may be filed in three weeks. Appellant may file a response to the objections," the Court directed.It then posted the case for hearing next on January 16, 2026. .Single-judge Justice Sachin Datta had set aside the CIC directive after the Delhi University approached the High Court against the CIC ruling.The single-judge ruled that there was no public interest in disclosing the details. Justice Datta added that the marksheets/ results/ degree certificates/ academic records of any individual, even if that individual is a holder of a public office, are in the nature of personal information, exempt under the Right to Information (RTI) Act..The issue came to the limelight after former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in 2016 asked PM Modi to “come clean about his educational degrees” and “make them public”. PM Modi had sworn in his election affidavit that he graduated from DU in the Bachelor of Arts (BA) Political Science course in the year 1978.A year before that, Neeraj Sharma had filed an RTI application seeking details of all BA degrees awarded by Delhi University in 1978. The University denied disclosure of the information related to the degree, stating that it was “private” and had “nothing to do with public interest”.In December 2016, Sharma moved the CIC against the University’s response. Information Commissioner Prof M Acharyulu passed an order in December 2016 directing DU to make the register containing the list of students who passed the Bachelor of Arts programme in 1978, public.On January 23, 2017, the University moved the High Court challenging the CIC order. The Court in January 2017 issued notice to Sharma and stayed the order after noting Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta’s arguments that the order has far-reaching adverse consequences and that all universities in the country hold degree details of crores of students in a fiduciary capacity..Subsequently, the Court in August this year set aside the CIC order, prompting the present appeals..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.
