DU not bound to share details of PM Modi's 1978 degree, rules Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court on Monday, 25 August, set aside a Central Information Commission (CIC) order directing disclosure of details related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bachelor's degree.

Justice Sachin Datta, who had reserved the verdict on the matter on 27 February, said this was "personal information" and there was no "implicit public interest" in it. "Something which is of interest to the public" was quite different from "something which is in the public interest", he added.

Reacting to this, the Congress said it is "incomprehensible" why the educational degree details of the PM must be kept a complete secret when such details have always been public when it comes to everyone else.

Several allegations have surfaced over the years that the PM doesn't, in fact, possess a college or university degree. And that he was less than honest about his educational qualifications while filing pre-election affidavits.

"This incidentally was the reason why amendments to the RTI Act, 2005, were bulldozed through Parliament six years ago in the face of our determined opposition," Congress Rajya Sabha MP and general-secretary (communications) Ramesh said in a social media post.

The Congress leader also shared on X a video of his remarks in the Rajya Sabha during the debate on the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in which he had said that "this bill is a pill designed to kill", and will kill the RTI.

Delhi University had filed the plea in 2017 against the CIC's order, which allowed inspection of records of BA students who graduated in 1978, when Modi is also stated to have cleared the examination. The order was stayed on the first date of hearing on 24 January 2017.

The CIC's order dated 21 December 2016 was issued on an RTI application by one Neeraj, who cleared the BA exam in 1978. The high court, however, stayed the CIC order on 23 January 2017.

Justice Datta said on Monday that educational qualifications were "not in the nature of any statutory requirement" for holding any public office or discharging official responsibilities.

"The fact that the information sought pertains to a public figure does not extinguish privacy/confidentiality rights over personal data, unconnected with public duties," the order said.

The RTI Act was stated to have been enacted to promote transparency in government functioning and not to "provide fodder for sensationalism".

"It is unambiguously clear that the 'marks obtained', grades, answer sheets, etc., are in the nature of personal information and are protected under Section 8(1)) of the RTI Act, subject to an assessment of overriding public interest. The mere act of publishing certain information on some occasions does not dilute the legal protection accorded to personal information under Section 8(I) of the RTI Act," the court held.

Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, who appeared for DU, had argued for the CIC order to be set aside. He, however, said the university had no objection in showing its record to the court. "The University has no objection in showing the record to the court. There is a degree from 1978, bachelor of arts," Mehta said.

In the run-up to the 2014 and 2019 elections, PM Modi declared on his election affidavits that he held a Bachelor of Arts degree from Delhi University (1978) and a Master of Arts in Political Science from Gujarat University (1983).

However, doubts surfaced regarding the authenticity of these credentials when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) raised questions. Key discrepancies included inconsistent name spellings between mark sheets and certificates and the unusual phrasing 'Entire Political Science' on his MA certificate — an academic nomenclature that raised eyebrows all around.

Efforts to verify the documents publicly were thwarted when DU and GU resisted disclosing records, citing privacy concerns. Critics like AAP convenor and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal accused Modi of lying in his affidavit, labelling the degrees “forged” and equating it to cheating under the law.

Meanwhile, the BJP responded by publicly displaying the certificates through Union home minister Amit Shah and late BJP leader Arun Jaitley, insisting the credentials were genuine — a move met with renewed scrutiny by sceptics.

There remains no independent verification of Modi's degrees from university records, and courts have continued to shield the documents from public release, so that both sceptics and supporters lack access to original university archives for definitive confirmation.