Mainstream WeeklyChief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant stated recently in an open court, "There are youngsters like cockroaches. They don’t get any employment. Some of them become media, some become social media, some become RTI activists, some of them become other activists."
When there was an outrage in the world outside, Justice Surya Kant clarified that his courtroom remarks comparing certain individuals to "cockroaches" and "parasites" were strictly aimed at individuals using fake degrees to enter professions, not the country’s youth. He expressed pain over being misquoted by sections of the media.
It all started with a lawyer Sanjay Dube filing a petition in the Supreme Court over his High Court denying him the honour of senior counsel while others bypassed him. Dube approached the apex court alleging discrimination denying him the well-deserved status of senior advocate. While Mr Dube after getting a rap from Justice Joymala Bagchi on this bench, sought to withdraw his petition, Justice Surya Kant seems to have tied himself in more knots than he can possibly untie with his clarification. He said he was misunderstood and presumably misquoted. I don’t believe a person of his stature would make some off the cuff remarks, while presiding over the highest court or even out of the court, considering that a Judge is a judge 24 hours, 365 days of the year and no frivolity is expected of him in any situation under any circumstances. Such is the gravity of the office of a judge or magistrate.
But enough has been said and discussed on his first observations. So now let us take him on his word in the clarificatory statement and I welcome his desire to expose and punish those rising in their respective professions by claiming fake degrees and certificates. And there are a plenty. Let the Chief Justice of India order an enquiry into all those (including those possessing fake law degrees), against whom there are allegations of fake degrees in the public domain, which they proudly don on their chest.
Let’s first start with the current Bihar chief minister Samrat Chaudhry. In the runup to the Bihar Assembly elections and even after the results, when Samrat Chaudhry became the Deputy Chief Minister in the short-lived Nitish Kumar government, Samrat babu’s educational qualifications mentioned in his affidavit he submitted while filing his nomination papers became a subject of controversy. The chief of Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) Prashant Kishore repeatedly questioned the authenticity of the D.Litt degree Samrat babu wears. Prashant Kishore alleged that the then Bihar Deputy Chief Minister is "7th fail" who lacks even a valid Class X/XII pass certificate. Kishore challenged Choudhary’s claim of holding a D.Litt degree from a California University and raised major discrepancies regarding his real age also, accusing Chaudhry of being involved in a 1995 murder case and circumventing the process of law by producing a fake age certificate of being a juvenile then.
Choudhary declared in his election affidavit, submitted with his nomination papers that he received a D.Litt degree from California Public University. Prashant Kishore and some JD-U leaders too at that time, claimed that this degree is fake because no such institution exists. Besides how a D.Litt could be awarded to someone without any formal education. To which Chaudhry claimed to have done a Pre Foundation Course (PFC) from Madurai Kamraj University. But Kishore questioned even that claim pointing out that the medium of instructions in Kamraj University PFC course is only Tamil. Chaudhry’s critics point to previous court records in which the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) stated that they have no record of Samrat babu passing even Class X exams. Some say he dropped out of school in class seven.
Next take the case of BJP MP Nishikant Dubey the enfante terrible of the BJP who keeps raising questions about Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and his personal life as well. In September 2020, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed before the Jharkhand High Court alleging that Nishikant Dubey had made false claims in his election affidavits for the 2009, 2014, and 2019 general elections regarding his educational qualifications. The petitioner asserted that Dubey had claimed to possess a Master of Business Administration degree from the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi University. In support of the allegation, the PIL cited a response to a Right to Information (RTI) application from Delhi University, which reportedly stated that no student by the name "Nishikant Dubey" was enrolled at the said institute.
Last but not the least is the case of our dear Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modiji has stated in a public speech that he has not been to any school or college. A similar admission he made to Rajiv Shukla in a video recorded interview. When Shukla pointedly asked if he had not studied at a school at all, Modiji sheepishly claimed that he studied upto Class X. However, there are conflicting versions whether he dropped out of school from class IV or Class VI. As an afterthought he added in Shukla’s interview that he later on passed BA from Delhi university and an M.A. from Gujarat.
For three terms 2002, 2007 and then 2012 Modiji filed his nomination papers along with a sworn affidavit to contest the Gujarat Assembly elections. Each time he neither disclosed his marital status and the existence of his wife Jasodaben nor presumably his educational qualification. When he filed his nominations papers to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections for the first time, probably fearing public scrutiny of his affidavit he mentioned the existence of a wife Jasodaben, abandoned many, many decades ago. Along with that he must have felt that as a Prime Minister he should impress the world with his educational attainments. So Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley (but not Modi) held a joint press conference here in Delhi holding a photo copy of his so-called BA degree from Delhi University and a MA degree from Gujarat university, But the controversy over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s university degrees revolves around allegations by Opposition parties that his election affidavits contain fabricated or mismatched educational credentials, particularly concerning his BA from Delhi University and MA from Gujarat University.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders have pointed to alleged discrepancies in dates, names, and the specific subjects listed on his degrees. For instance, critics have highlighted the naming of his postgraduate degree as "Entire Political Science," a course they claim did not exist at Gujarat University or other universities at the time or even now. Delhi University previously issued clarifications defending the authenticity of PM Modi’s Bachelor of Arts degree. The university and BJP officials have maintained that his degree records are genuine, attributing varying dates on the documents to minor administrative errors. In which case the University should have no problem demonstrating before the public all the relevant records. But strangely the prestigious Delhi university has been keeping only the information relating to Modiji’s educational attainments to its chest.
The doubting Thomas then tried to approach the university through the RTI. But the university refused to part with this information pleading Modiji’s privacy. Once the RTI route failed the curious cats went to the Delhi High Court to seek this info through the RTI. But even the Delhi High Court dismissed the plea. The court ruled that such documents are "personal information" and exempt from disclosure under the RTI Act, as the disclosure did not serve an overarching public interest.
But it does. The issue is not whether Modi ji or Nishikant Dubey or Samrat Chaudhry do possess any educational qualifications at all. As Modiji had publicly stated, if he had maintained that even in his affidavit, nobody had any business to raise a finger. After all any educational qualification is not a pre-requisite for contesting elections and occupying an elected post in India. That’s not the issue at all. The issue is about fake degrees. And our dear Chief Justice is visibly concerned over people— lawyers or others— seeking or occupying offices with fake degrees. Therefore, it might be in the fitness of things for him occupying the highest probing authority to set the investigating agencies to work and weed out those claiming or occupying high offices on the strength of fake degrees.