'Incomprehensible': Cong on Delhi HC quashing CIC order to disclose PM Modi's degree details
New Delh (PTI): With the Delhi High Court quashing a CIC order related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bachelor's degree, the Congress on Monday said it is incomprehensible why the educational degree details of the PM be kept a complete secret when such details of everyone else have always been public.
The high court on Monday set aside a Central Information Commission (CIC) order directing disclosure of details related to Modi's bachelor's degree while holding it to be "personal information" and ruling out any "implicit public interest" in it.
Justice Sachin Datta, who reserved the verdict on the matter on February 27, was acting on Delhi University's plea challenging the CIC order. The judge said "something which is of interest to the public" was quite different from "something which is in the public interest".
Reacting to the development, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "It is simply incomprehensible why the educational degree details of this particular PM should be kept a complete secret when such details of everyone else have always been and continue to be public."
"This incidentally was the reason why amendments to the RTI Act, 2005, were bulldozed through Parliament six years ago in the face of our determined opposition," Ramesh said.
The Congress leader also shared on X a video of his remarks in the Rajya Sabha during the debate on the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in which he had said that "this bill is a pill designed to kill", and will kill the RTI.
Following an RTI application by one Neeraj, the CIC on December 21, 2016, allowed inspection of records of all students who cleared the BA exam in 1978 -- the year Prime Minister Modi also passed it.
The high court, however, stayed the CIC order on January 23, 2017.
On Monday, the verdict found no implicit public interest with respect to the information sought under the RTI application and said the educational qualifications were not in the nature of any statutory requirement for holding any public office or discharging official responsibilities.
"The fact that the information sought pertains to a public figure does not extinguish privacy/confidentiality rights over personal data, unconnected with public duties," the order said.
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Dense fog disrupts operations at Delhi airport; 228 flights cancelled, 5 diverted
New Delhi (PTI): Dense fog disrupted flight operations at Delhi Airport on Monday, with various airlines cancelling 228 flights and diverting five to nearby airports due to low visibility, an official said.
However, except for Air India, which had in an X post in the morning announced the cancellation of some 40 flights, no other airlines, including crisis-hit IndiGo, shared the numbers of their cancelled or delayed flights.
"As many as 228 flights -- 131 departures and 97 arrivals-- have been cancelled due to low visibility, so far," the airport official said.
In addition to this, five flights have been diverted so far, he said.
Earlier, the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), in a statement, said, "Our on-ground officials are working closely with all stakeholders to assist passengers and provide necessary support across Terminals.
"Low visibility (below minima), due to dense fog, has severely impacted operations at Delhi and other airports across northern India, which is unfortunately beyond our control," IndiGo said in a statement.
As operations are adjusted to prevailing weather conditions, some flights may experience delays, while a few others may be proactively cancelled during the day to prioritise safety and minimise extended waiting at the airport, the airline said in a statement.
IndiGo, however, did not say how many of its flights were cancelled or delayed.
The airline said its teams are "closely monitoring" the situation and coordinating with Delhi airport.
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IndiGo also said it issued advisories to its customers and "proactively" informing them, to minimise inconvenience.
“Poor visibility due to dense fog in Delhi this morning has impacted flight operations for all airlines. We are closely monitoring conditions and will resume operations as soon as it is safe to do so,” Air India said in a post on X in the morning.
It also said that some flights have been cancelled In the interest of safety, and to avoid prolonged uncertainty for the guests, while listing out some 40 arrivals and departures that it had cancelled for the day.
Delhi airport is the country's busiest, handling around 1,300 flight movements daily.
