CONSTITUTION BENCH TO HEAR AADHAAR CASE NEXT WEEK

NEW DELHI Chief Justice of India JS Khehar agreed on Wednesday to set up a constitution bench of five judges to hear a bunch of petitions about whether Aadhaar, the 12-digit identification number, violates the right to privacy.

The bench will sit on July 18 and 19 to determine if a larger bench of nine judges needs to hear arguments challenging the NDA government’s move to make Aadhaar mandatory for people to get social benefits.

The decision to constitute the bench came after attorney general KK Venugopal and petitioner’s lawyer Shyam Divan mentioned the matter before Khehar. The two made the request following advice from a three-judge bench, headed by justice J Chelameswar.

The bench had referred the issue to the CJI in August 2015 for setting up a constitution bench to decide first whether privacy is a fundamental right.

In the meantime, the NDA government gradually made Aadhaar compulsory for various services such as banking and applying for PAN cards.

This led to a spurt in petitions, prompting the counsel to seek early hearing of the main case. Venugopal told Khehar it would be in public interest to hear and dispose of the petitions early.

The government’s Aadhaar scheme is being challenged on the ground that the biometric details that people are required to give violated their right to privacy.