Smriti Irani’s board exam results not to be inspected: Says Delhi High Court
Delhi high court stayed a Central Information Commission order to Central Board of Secondary Examination to allow inspection of class 10th and 12th school records of Union Minister Smriti Irani.
New Delhi, Feb 21: Union Textile Minister Smriti Zubin Irani aka Smriti Irani’s School certificates is in news from last few months.
Today the Delhi high court stayed a Central Information Commission order to Central Board of Secondary Examination to allow inspection of class 10th and 12th school records of Smriti Irani.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva put on hold Central Information Commission’s January 17 direction on a plea by Central Board of Secondary Examination which said the school records of Irani cannot be disclosed under the Right to Information Act as it was third party information which was held in fiduciary capacity.
The court also issued notice to the Right To Information applicant, on whose application CIC had passed the order, and sought his reply by the next date of hearing on April 27.
The CIC in its order had rejected Central Board of Secondary Examination’s contention that the information sought by RTI applicant Mohd Naushaduddin was “personal”.
The office of the Minister of Textiles and the Holy Child Auxilium School, Delhi, from where Smriti has claimed to have passed out, were also directed by the Commission to give her roll number to CBSE, Ajmer, which possesses the records for the years 1991 and 1993 “to facilitate search from huge records which is yet to be digitised.”
“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 days from the date of receipt of this order,” CIC had said in its order.
“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 said.
What is the Certificate issue about?
The controversy surrounding the educational qualifications of the former HRD minister goes back to 2014, when it emerged that Smriti Irani had made contradictory declarations in her affidavits in the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and 2014. In June 2015, a case was filed by freelance writer Ahmer Khan, who accused Irani of providing contradictory affidavits about her educational qualifications during different elections.
In March last year, the Election Commission and the Delhi University were ordered, by a Delhi court, to bring the documents related to records of educational qualification of Smriti Irani to the poll panel. In October last year though, the Patiala House dismissed the case against Irani stating that there was a “11-year delay in filing the complaint” and the lack of original documents available with the Delhi University.
