Friday, 07 August 2015 10:58 AM
New Delhi: The Aadhaar project is likely to be referred to a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court for examining the crucial issue of whether "right to privacy" is a fundamental right or a mere right that does not have the force of law.
A three-judge bench of Justices J. Chelameshwar, S.A. Bobde and C. Nagappan reserved its verdict today, after two weeks of arguments on PILs challenging the scheme's validity. The judges will announce on Tuesday whether to refer the matter to a five-judge Constitution bench, as sought by attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi. In earlier hearings, though, the three judges have indicated that they may do so.
The petitioners contend that Aadhaar violates the right to privacy as personal data like fingerprints and iris, collected and stored under the scheme, could be misused by vested interests.
Counsel Shyam Divan, representing main petitioner and former Karnataka High Court judge K. Puttaswamy, has argued against a reference to a Constitution bench, insisting the right to privacy is a fundamental right intrinsic to the right to life and liberty under Article 21 of the statute.
But attorney-general Rohatgi, presenting the Centre's position, has contended otherwise. He has cited rulings by two Constitution benches - one by an eight-judge panel in 1954 and the other by a six-judge bench in 1964 - that the "right to privacy" is not a fundamental right.
Some smaller benches, of two to three judges, have subsequently taken a contrary view that "right to privacy" was a fundamental right. But Rohatgi claimed the smaller panels had wrongly interpreted the earlier Constitution benches' rulings. Hence, he argued, another Constitution bench should be constituted to give finality to the issue.
The Aadhaar project was started by the Congress-led UPA II government and is being defended by the Narendra Modi government. But the ruling BJP had assailed the scheme while in the Opposition.
The Telegraph, Kolkata