Gujarat University Registrar Piyush Patel had filed a defamation complaint against the two leaders over their comments after the Gujarat High Court set aside the Chief Information Commissioner's order on PM Modi's educational degree. They made "defamatory" statements in press conferences and on Twitter targeting the university over PM Modi's degree, the complainant said, adding that their comments against the Gujarat University were defamatory and intended to hurt the reputation of the varsity.

Earlier, in 2017, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appeared in the matter argued DU did not have any problem in sharing the information sought on the number of students who appeared, passed, or failed.

During the hearing, he added it cannot disclose the results of all students along with roll numbers, names, father names, and marks.

DU argued that such information was exempted from disclosure.

Later in 2016, Gujarat high court set aside order of the CIC for providing information about Modi’s degrees to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal under the RTI Act. It allowed the Gujarat University’s appeal against the CIC’s order and fined Kejriwal ₹25,000.

In April 2016, CIC M Sridhar Acharyulu directed the Delhi University and the Gujarat University to provide information to Kejriwal.

Later, at that time Gujarat high court stayed the order after Gujarat University approached it.

In 2016, the CIC’s order came a day after Kejriwal wrote to Acharyulu, saying he has no objection to records about him being made public. Kejriwal wondered why the commission wanted to “hide” information on Modi’s educational qualifications. He wrote Modi’s degrees should be brought into the public domain to remove any confusion over the issue.

Acharyulu later directed the Gujarat University to give records of Modi’s educational qualifications to Kejriwal.

The Gujarat University objected to the CIC’s order saying “irresponsible childish curiosity” of someone cannot become public interest under the RTI Act.

In February, Mehta, appearing for the university, told the Gujarat high court that there was nothing to hide in the first place because information about Modi’s degrees is “already in the public domain”. He added the university also placed the information on its website on a particular date.

Mehta said there was no obligation to give a copy of the university degree of the Prime Minister to any third person under the RTI.

Mehta referred to exceptions under the RTI Act for not complying with the CIC’s order. He argued the RTI Act is being used for settling scores and to make “childish jabs” against opponents.

Mehta referred to judgements of the Supreme Court and high courts about the exemptions and added that one cannot seek someone’s personal information just because one is curious about it.

Mehta argued the information sought has nothing to do with Modi’s role as a public figure. He cited the provisions of the RTI Act and said the information sought must be related to public activity. Mehta said the Gujarat University was holding the information about Modi in a fiduciary capacity. He referred to Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act said such information cannot be disclosed “unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information.”