New Delhi:
The Delhi University on Monday said the purpose of RTI was not to satisfy the curiosity of a third party as it challenged the Central Information Commission's order on disclosure of information regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degree.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing before Justice Sachin Datta of the Delhi High Court, said that students' information was in the possession of a university in a “fiduciary capacity” and could not be disclosed to a stranger as the law there made an exception.
“Section 6 provides a mandate that information must be provided, that is the purpose. But the RTI Act is not meant to satisfy anyone's curiosity,” he said.
The Right to Information (RTI) Act cannot be misused or abused by directing disclosure of information that is not related to transparency and accountability in the functioning of government agencies, Mehta argued.
On the request of an activist Neeraj's RTI, the Central Information Commission (CIC) on December 21, 2016 allowed access to the details of all students who had cleared the BA exam in 1978 – the year in which Prime Minister Modi also passed it.
The plea sought details of students who had taken the exam in 1978.
However, the CIC order was stayed by the Supreme Court on January 23, 2017.
Mehta said on Monday, “I can go and ask my university who will give me my degree, my mark sheet or my papers if the rules allow… but (exemption from disclosure under section) 8 (1) (e) applies on a third party.”
Terming the CIC order as against established law, he said “arbitrary and impractical” requirements under the RTI Act for disclosure of “anything and everything” information would be counterproductive and would adversely impact efficiency of the administration.
“He wants everyone's information in the year 1978. Someone can come and say 1979; someone 1964. This university was founded in 1922,” Mehta said.
DU had said the CIC order had “far-reaching adverse consequences” on the petitioner and all universities in the country that had millions of students in a fiduciary capacity.
In its challenge to the CIC order, DU said the RTI authority's order was “arbitrary” and “legally untenable” as the information sought to be disclosed was “personal information of third parties”.
The DU petition said it was “completely unlawful” if the CIC had directed her to disclose such information held by her in a position of trust.
It argued that there was no urgent need or overwhelming public interest justifying the disclosure of such information.
The RTI Act, it was said, had been reduced to a “joke” with demands for details of all students who had cleared the BA exam in 1978, including the Prime Minister.
The CIC in its order told DU to allow inspection and rejected its public information officer's argument that it was personal information of third parties, noting that there was “neither merit nor legality” in it.
The university was directed to “facilitate the inspection” of the register which stored complete information about the results of all students who had taken the BA examination in 1978 along with their roll number, the names of the students, the names of the fathers and the grades achieved. Certified copy of the extract, free of charge.
The case was scheduled to be heard later in January.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)