Kejriwal has filed a review petition in the Gujarat High Court, questioning its order that overturned the CIC’s directive to Gujarat University to share the details of Modi’s degree with the Delhi CM.
Kejriwal’s petition was admitted by Justice Biren Vaishnav, who scheduled the next hearing for June 30.
The HC also issued a notice to Gujarat University, the Centre and the former CIC M Sridhar Acharyulu. In March, Justice Vaishnav had set aside the CIC’s order and had fined Kejriwal ₹25,000.
In April 2016, Acharyulu, who was then the CIC, had asked Delhi University and Gujarat University to provide Kejriwal with information on Modi’s degrees. This came after Kejriwal wrote to Acharyulu, saying he had no problem with his own records being made public.
Kejriwal had also expressed his doubt about why the commission was trying to “conceal” information on Modi’s academic credentials.
Acharyulu then ordered Gujarat University to give Kejriwal the records of Modi’s educational qualifications.
Gujarat University had opposed the CIC’s order, saying that someone’s “irresponsible childish curiosity” cannot be a public interest under the RTI Act.
Tushar Mehta, the Solicitor General who represented the university, had argued in the HC in February that there was nothing to conceal because the PM’s degrees were “already in public domain” and that the university had uploaded the information on its website on a specific date in the past.
Kejriwal claimed in his review petition that no degree of PM Modi can be found on the university’s website. He said that only a document called “Office Register (OR)” is shown, which is not a “degree”.
He said that “the said degree is not available on the official website of Gujarat University and, therefore, the judgement has an error on the face of the record and allowing it would result in injustice”.
He also said that the university’s lawyer had orally stated that the degree was on the university’s website on the final day of hearing without showing any document, which could not be verified at that time.