Less than a fortnight after his RTI request for the PM Modi’s educational qualification was turned down, a Gujarat based activist filed an appeal against the decision. But the appellate body’s decision has ‘shocked’ him ‘even more.’

The RTI activist told jantakareporter.com, “I don’t know what was more amusing, the original response or the response I’ve now received from the appellate authority. The original decision had declined to entertain my request and instead asked me to appeal. And now that I’ve taken the trouble of appealing, the appellate body has advised me to file an RTI all over again.”

Last week jantakareporter.com reported how the Gujarat-based activist’s request for PM Modi’s educational qualification had been declined both by the PMO and the Election Commission.

In the reply, the appellate body headed by SE Rizvi, said, “A public authority is obliged to provide information, which is held in its records and, in the matter in hand where the requisite information does not form part of office records, the contention that the PMO should provide the same is not correct.”

In his request, the RTI activist had also asked for the details of PM Modi’s “class 10th and 12th and MA (political science).” To which the appellate authority asked him to file the RTI request all over again as it didn’t form his jurisdiction.

Modi government has drawn flak for diluting the purpose of the Right To Information Act by constantly refusing to divulge information in response to RTI requests. Be it the request to obtain his educational qualification or how often his businessman friend Gautam Adani visited him at his offical residence 7 RCR, the PMO has refused to provide favourable responses to RTI requests.