NEW DELHI, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The High Court in Delhi on Tuesday sought all details in a fake degree case against Indian Textiles Minister Smriti Irani, which was dismissed by a lower court last year.
The lower court had in October last year dismissed the case against Irani that was filed by a journalist named Ahmed Khan alleging that she faked her college degree.
The High Court's direction came in the wake of Khan challenging the lower court's order and reiterating his allegations that Irani made contradictory claims about her college degree in various documents.
Lawyers in the case told the media that the High Court will examine the records and then decide on future course of action.
Khan's complaint alleges that while contesting the 2004 general election, Irani said she had graduated with an arts degree in 1996 from Delhi University's School of Correspondence, but while contesting last year's general election, she claimed that she had pursued a degree in commerce from the same university.
Interestingly, both the Election Commission and Delhi University have said that Irani's graduation degree can not be found.
The High Court's demand of all documents in the case is being seen as a setback for 41-year-old Irani, a former television actress, who is one of the youngest ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet.
In 2015, then Delhi's Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar, who is from anti-graft Aam Admi Party, was arrested on similar charges.
Irani has not yet commented on the allegations.
