In a big relief to former HRD minister Smriti Irani, the Patiala House Court refused to summon her in the fake degree case. Irani had allegedly given false information about her educational qualifications in the election affidavit.

According to the court, plea was filed with the the "malafide intent" of harassing Smriti Irani and further observed that it would not have been filed if it did not involve a Union minister. Irani is now the Union Minister for Textiles in the Narendra Modi government.

Calling it a "great delay of 11 years in filing the complaint", the court said that the original evidence was lost in the passage of time and secondary evidence was not enough for summoning Irani.

The court was hearing a private complaint by Ahmer Khan, who accused Irani of submitting varying details about her educational qualifications in her three affidavits filed before the ECI for the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha polls held in 2004, 2011 and 2014.

Nandini