PM degree case: Delhi HC grants 2 more weeks to DU to file objections
The Delhi High Court on Monday granted two more weeks to Delhi University to file its objection to the delay in filing appeals against an order refusing disclosure of details of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bachelor’s degree.
The counsel for the appellants urged the court to condone the delay, saying the varsity was given an additional three weeks to file its objections on the last date as well.
The DU counsel, however, said objections to the delay will be filed within two weeks and requested that the issue be decided after filing the response.
“Learned counsel for respondent states that objection to application seeking condonation of delay will be filed within two weeks.
Response thereof will be filed by the appellants by the next date of listing,” a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said.
The matter was listed for next hearing on August 20.
On February 10, the court had granted three weeks’ time to DU to file the objection to the delay.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the university, had said “there was nothing in the matter” and it was “only to sensationalise”.
A senior counsel appearing for an appellant had said the objections to the delay had not been filed even after two and a half months of the court permitting DU to do so.
Appeals have been filed challenging a single judge’s order which had set aside a Central Information Commission (CIC) decision directing disclosure of Prime Minister Modi’s degree.
The appellants before the division bench are RTI activist Neeraj, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh and advocate MohdIrshad.
On August 25, 2025, the single judge had set aside the CIC order, saying only because PM Modi was holding a public office, it did not render all his “personal information” to public disclosure.
It had ruled out any “implicit public interest” in the information sought, and said the RTI Act was enacted to promote transparency in Government functioning and “not to provide fodder for
sensationalism”.
Following an RTI application by Neeraj, the CIC on December 21, 2016, allowed inspection of records of all students who cleared the BA exam in 1978 — the year Prime Minister Modi also passed it.
The single judge had passed the combined order in six petitions, including the one filed by the Delhi University, challenging the CIC by which the varsity was directed to disclose the details related to Modi’s bachelor degree.
The Delhi University’s counsel had sought the CIC order to be set aside but said the varsity had no objection in showing its records to the court.
The single judge had opined the educational qualifications were not in the nature of any statutory requirement for holding any public office, or discharging official responsibilities.
The situation might have been different, had educational qualifications been a pre-requisite for eligibility to a specific public office, the judge had said, calling the CIC’s approach “thoroughly misconceived”.
The High Court had also set aside the CIC order that directed the CBSE to provide copies of Class 10 and 12 records of former Union minister Smriti Irani.
