SC rejects petitions seeking review of 2018 Aadhaar ruling; justice Chandrachud differs

NEW DELHI: Even as one of the five judges on the bench termed it a “constitutional error”, the Supreme Court has by a majority verdict dismissed a clutch of petitions seeking a review of its 2018 judgment that validated the Aadhaar Act.

By 4-1, a Constitution Bench affirmed the verdict delivered in September 2018 when the top court upheld the country’s biometric identity system and also cleared mandatory Aadhaar enrolment of recipients of government welfare benefits. The court, in its verdict, had also approved the passage of Aadhaar law by Parliament as a money bill, which did not require an approval of the Rajya Sabha.

The SC had considered the bunch of review petitions in judges’ chambers on January 11. The court order was released on

Wednesday, in which the fivejudge bench, headed by justice AM Khanwilkar, held that “no case for review” of the 2018 judgment had been made out.

Justice DY Chandrachud disagreed and wrote a separate order, suggesting that any decision must wait for a larger bench to determine whether the Aadhaar verdict was correct in interpreting what could constitute a “money bill.” In split verdicts, the view of the majority holds.

“With the doubt expressed by another constitution bench on the correctness of the very decision which is the subject matter of these review petitions, it is a constitutional error to hold at this stage that no ground exists to review the judgment,” said justice Chandrachud, who had in the 2018 judgment also held that Aadhaar could not have been passed as a money bill.