SC Aadhaar Hearing: Nine Judge Bench To Continue Hearing The Matter Tomorrow

The Supreme Court's nine-judge bench will continue hearing the Aadhaar matter tomorrow after the petitioner's counsel today argued on why Aadhaar breaches privacy. 

The lawyer of the petitioner, in connection with the Aadhar matter, on Wednesday argued on all issues arising out of the Aadhar card, especially the concern over whether it breaches the people's right to privacy.

"The issue is simple. Is there a fundamental right to privacy under the Indian Constitution? The view that existed earlier was an opinion that different fundamental rights were individual and distinct. And that Article 21 was a residuary right. The basic freedoms were under article 19," Senior Advocate Gopal Subramanian said.

Subramanian further argued that privacy is embedded in all processes of human life and liberty. The Preamble uses two expressions liberty and dignity. These two words are intended to convey an inherent right recognised by the Constitution and the privacy is embedded in both.

There are some preambular values which are to be read with fundamental rights, Subramanium said.

The preamble has multiplicity of expressions which include some from American Constitution and some from continental countries, he added.

"Liberty is the fundamental value of our Constitution. Life and liberty are natural existing rights which our Constitution has. Now can liberty be at all experienced without privacy. Can liberty be exercised without privacy at least with regard to all the Fundamental Rights of the Constitution," he said.

The apex court had yesterday set up the Constitution bench after the matter was referred to a larger bench by a five-judge bench.

The five-judge Constitution bench headed by the CJI, which was to deal with pleas challenging the validity of the Aadhaar scheme and the right to privacy attached to it, was faced with the two past verdicts, delivered in 1950 and 1962 by larger benches, holding that the right to privacy was not a fundamental right.

The apex court had said the nine-judge bench would deal with the limited issue of right to privacy and the correctness of the two judgements.

A three-judge bench had in 2015 referred to a larger bench a batch of pleas, including the one filed by Justice (retd) K S Puttaswamy, challenging the validity of the Aadhaar scheme and the aspect of right to privacy attached to it.

The apex court had agreed to set up a bench on July 12 to deal with Aadhaar-related matters after the attorney general and senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for petitioners, had jointly mentioned the matter.

The petitioners had claimed that collection and sharing of biometric information, as required under the scheme, was a breach of the "fundamental" right to privacy.

Allowing the Centre's plea, the court had framed various questions, including whether right to privacy was a fundamental right, to be decided by a Constitution bench.

On June 10, the Supreme Court had ruled that from July 1 onward, every person eligible to obtain Aadhar card must quote their Aadhar number or their Aadhaar Enrolment ID number for filing of Income Tax Returns as well as for applications for Permanent Account Number (PAN).

Following this, the apex court pronounced its order on mandatory requirements of Aadhar card for Income Tax Return (I-TR).

The Income Tax Department has stepped up its efforts to encourage people to link their PAN with Aadhar.

On July 12, the top court decided to constitute a five-judge bench to hear whether there is a right to privacy or not.

The matter was mentioned before a bench comprising of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, which said that its five-judge Constitution Bench will hear Aadhar-related matters. 

Further Details Awaited

With Agency Inputs