Chandigarh: The Delhi high court on Tuesday blocked Central Information Commission’s (CIC) order to CBSE to allow inspection of class 10th and 12th school records of Union Minister Smriti Irani.
The bench headed by justice Sanjeev Sachdeva put on hold CIC’s January 17 direction on a plea by Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) which reportedly said that the school records of Smriti Irani cannot be disclosed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act as it was third party information which was held in fiduciary capacity.
The media while reporting on this matter said that the court also issued notice to the RTI applicant, on whose application CIC had passed the order, and sought his reply by the next date of hearing on April 27.
Earlier, the CIC in its order had rejected CBSE’s contention that the information sought by RTI applicant Mohd Naushaduddin was “personal”.
Apparently, the office of the Minister of Textiles and the Holy Child Auxilium School, Delhi, from where Smriti Irani has claimed to have passed out, in its earlier order were also directed by the Commission to provide her roll number to CBSE, Ajmer, which has the records for the years 1991 and 1993.
“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,” notes Times of India (TOI) in its report with reference to the statement given by the CIC.
“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 further added to its statement.
The CIC is of the believe that, when a public representative declares his educational qualifications, the voter has a right to check up that declaration.