New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Monday stayed the operation of an order passed by the Central Information Commission (CIC) allowing inspection of records of students who had passed the Bachelor of Arts (BA) examination from Delhi University (DU) in 1978.

As a result, the relief of non-disclosure of records was extended to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had also taken his BA exam the same year.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva who was hearing the matter also sought a response from RTI activist, Neeraj, before the next date of hearing.

ALSO READ: Narendra Modi’s degree row: CIC allows inspection of Delhi University records

The CIC on 21 December ordered that the records of all students of the BA examination from DU in 1978 would be allowed to be inspected. This had cast a shadow over Modi’s degree.

Challenging the CIC order allowing disclosure, Delhi University moved the Delhi high court claiming such order to be arbitrary and illegal as the information sought to be disclosed comprised third party personal information.

Tushar Mehta, additional solicitor general, representing the university told the court that details could not be given since the university shared a fiduciary relationship with its students and such an order was bound to have far reaching consequences as the university holds degrees of crores of students.

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On the courts’ stay order, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Twitter, “Delhi high court’s stay is very unfortunate, people have a right to see the PM’s degree."

The CIC order had directed the university to allow inspection of the relevant register about students who had earned their BA degree in 1978, including details such as roll number, names of the students, fathers’ name and marks obtained as available with the university and provide a certified copy of the extract of relevant pages from the register, free of cost.

The matter will be heard next on 27 April.

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