The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday rejected Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal’s appeal against a ₹25,000 cost imposed on him in the case concerning information about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degree.
The case goes back to a 2016 direction of the Central Information Commission (CIC), which had asked Gujarat University to provide information related to degrees in Narendra Modi’s name. The university had challenged the CIC direction before the High Court.
In March 2023, a single judge quashed the CIC order and imposed a ₹25,000 cost on Kejriwal. The judge held that information concerning the Prime Minister’s educational degrees was exempt from disclosure under Sections 8(1)(e) and 8(1)(j) of the Right to Information Act.
Kejriwal then challenged that order before a division bench of the Gujarat High Court.
On Tuesday, the bench comprising Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice DN Ray dismissed his appeal. The court also rejected the civil application seeking a stay and found no further error with regard to the costs.
Why Kejriwal challenged the cost
A major point raised by Kejriwal’s counsel was the ₹25,000 cost imposed in paragraph 40 of the single judge’s order.
His counsel argued that Kejriwal had not personally filed the original RTI application and was only a “bystander” in the matter. The counsel also said the proceedings had been taken up suo motu and that Kejriwal was made a respondent.
The counsel further argued that Kejriwal had not “persisted” with the matter, which was one of the points relied upon for imposing the cost.
What about the University’s website?
Another argument concerned information already available on Gujarat University’s website.
Kejriwal’s counsel said the university itself had described the material available online as a “record of degree” and not the degree itself.
The counsel questioned why there was a cause of action in the writ petition if the degree-related material had already been placed on the university website.
University’s stand
Gujarat University had earlier urged the High Court to impose further costs on Kejriwal.
The university argued that such action was needed to ensure that the RTI Act was not misused. It also said government officials should not have to spend productive working hours dealing with requests that did not serve the purpose of the RTI Act.
With Tuesday’s order, the Gujarat High Court has rejected Kejriwal’s appeal against the ₹25,000 cost imposed by the single judge.
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