A case was filed against Smriti Irani for allegedly giving false details of her qualification.
A case against union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani accusing her of misrepresenting her education qualifications may not be over yet. The Delhi High Court has today asked for all records on the case to be handed to it.
A lower court in Delhi had last year dismissed the case, filed by a man called Ahmed Khan, observing that it was meant to "needlessly harass her." Mr Khan has challenged that verdict in the High Court. He has accused Ms Irani, 41, of claiming to be a graduate in her election papers though she did not apparently finish her Bachelor of Commerce course being pursued by correspondence.
Mr Khan has also accused Ms Irani of making contradictory statements about her education in affidavits that she filed while contesting different elections between 2004 and 2014. Smriti Irani, who is a member of the Rajya Sabha, was Education Minister when the case was first filed.
Lawyers in the case told NDTV today that the Delhi High Court will examine case records before deciding to summon Ms Irani or anyone else. For the actor turned politician, it opens up what was a headache for months.
The trial court judge had, while dismissing the case in October last year, noted a "great delay of 11 years" in filing the complaint, observing that it might not have been filed Smriti Irani was not a central minister. He also said that "original evidence has already been lost due to passage of years, secondary evidence won't be enough for court."
Both the Election Commission and Delhi University have said Ms Irani's graduation degree cannot be traced.
Mr Khan says that while Ms Irani had in 2004 said she had a 1996 Bachelor of Arts or BA degree from Delhi University, in later elections she said her highest educational qualification was B.com, Part 1 (correspondence course) from Delhi University.
He has alleged that the minister deliberately furnished incorrect details, which is punishable by law.