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HC stays CIC’s order allowing inspection of Smriti’s CBSE records   

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed a Central Information Commission (CIC) order directing the Central Board of Secondary Examination…

HC stays CIC’s order allowing inspection of Smriti’s CBSE records   

Smriti Irani (PHOTO: Facebook)

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed a Central Information Commission (CIC) order directing the Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) to allow inspection of class 10th and 12th board exam records of Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani.

On a CBSE plea stating that these board exam records could not be disclosed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act since it was a "third party information held in fiduciary capacity", High Court judge Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva stayed the CIC's 17 January direction to the former.

The court also issued notice to the RTI applicant Mohd Naushaduddin on whose application the CIC had given its 17 January order, and sought his reply by the next date of hearing on 27 April.

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In its order, the CIC had rejected the CBSE's contention that the information sought by the RTI applicant was "personal".

The CIC had also directed the textile minister's office and the Holy Child Auxilium School, Delhi ~ from where Irani has claimed to have passed out ~ to give her roll number to the CBSE, Ajmer, which possesses the records for the years 1991 and 1993 "to facilitate search from huge records which is yet to be digitised".

In its order, the CIC had reportedly said, "The Commission directs the respondent authority, the CBSE, to facilitate inspection of relevant records and provide certified copies of documents selected by the appellant free of cost, except personal details in admit card and mark sheet, within 60 daysfrom the date of receipt of this order," adding that "Disclosure of the details of a particular candidate contained in the degree or certificate register cannot cause any unwarranted invasion of privacy of the certificate holder".

The Commission had, however, said that if the admit card contains personal information like address, contact number and email id, then such personal information of the candidate need not be given.

The CIC had also noted that when a public representative declares his educational qualifications, the voter has a right to check that declaration.

Irani's educational records have been surrounded by controversies since her induction into the Narendra Modi Cabinet in May 2014. It has been alleged by various quarters, including the Opposition parties, that she had allegedly filed discrepant details about her educational qualifications in her nomination papers filed before the Election Commission in the 2004 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections and for the 2011 Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat.  

On 18 October 2016, a Delhi lower court had dismissed a petition pleading for Irani to be summoned in connection with alleged discrepancies in her election affidavits regarding her educational qualifications.

In its another order early last month, the CIC had directed Delhi University to allow inspection of records related to all the students who had passed BA in 1978, the year in which, according to DU, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also passed this examination. The Commission had then also rejected the contention of the University's central public information officer that it was a third party personal information, stating that there was "neither merit nor legality" in it.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday reportedly stayed three separate CIC orders imposing Rs 25,000 penalty each on Delhi University's public information officer for rejecting on technical grounds RTI applications seeking facts about the graduation degrees of PM Modi and Irani.

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