Delhi HC stays CIC order to inspect Smriti Irani’s academic records

New Delhi, [India], Feb. 21 : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday put a stay on a Central Information Commission (CIC) order that directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to allow inspection of class10th and 12th school records of Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani.

The CIC, in January 2017, directed the CBSE to disclose the academic records of Irani, rejecting the CBSE's contention that it constituted "personal information" However, the CBSE challenged the CIC's order in the Delhi High Court.

The CIC directed the central education board, Ajmer and the Holy Child Auxilium School, from where Irani claimed to have passed out, to provide the roll number or reference number to CBSE which possesses the records for the years 1991 and 1993 "to facilitate search from huge records which is yet to be digitized." The CIC, on January 8, directed Delhi University officials to allow the inspection of records of students who had secured their BA degree in 1978, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's.

The order, passed by Acharyulu, had dismissed DU Central Public Information Officer Meenakshi Sahay's denial of an RTI query on the grounds that the information was personal, saying the rejection had "neither merit, nor legality".

Source: ANI