New Delhi:
The Delhi University (DU) on Friday suspended five officials for allegedly leaking documents related to the educational qualifications of union Human Resources Development (HRD) Minister
Smriti Irani, officials said in Delhi.
"Five of the non-teaching staff of the school of open learning have been suspended for accessing the confidential file and then leaking it," Malay Neerav, DU joint dean of students' welfare and media coordinator, told reporters.
"These are officials below section officer level," he said.
DU took the action after a Hindi daily published the leaked documents. The daily had written that Ms Irani had taken admission in DU's School of Open Learning last year, but had not appeared for her examination.
Ms Irani is in the center of a controversy due to her educational qualifications that has led to a full-blown war of words between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Congress had alleged that Ms Irani had misrepresented facts in her election affidavits.
The Congress leaders have said that Ms Irani in her affidavit -- when she was contesting the 2004 Lok Sabha election -- mentioned her qualification as bachelor of arts (BA) which she passed in 1996 from Delhi University's school of correspondence.
But in her affidavit for this year's Lok Sabha election, the actor-turned-politician mentioned her educational qualification as "Bachelor of Commerce Part I, School of Open Learning (Correspondence), University of Delhi - 1994."
The Congress has protested against an "undergraduate" being appointed the HRD minister.
(
Education Minister Smriti Irani 'Not Even Graduate!': Ajay Maken's Tweet Sparks Row)
The BJP countered it with questions about Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's academic background.
Ms Irani has meanwhile said that "extraneous circumstances" were created by the opposition to divert her and requested the people to judge her on the basis of her work. (
'Judge Me By My Work': Smriti Irani's First Response To Controversy Over Her Education )