Supreme Court to end Aadhaar confusion: 5-judge Constitution Bench to hear case on 18 July

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that a five-judge Constitution bench will hear matters related to the Aadhaar on 18 and 19 July. The hearing would also include the much-talked about breach of the fundamental right of privacy.

Attorney General K K Venugopal and senior advocate Shyam Divan would make the case for petitions that have challenged Modi led government's move to make Aadhaar mandatory for various public welfare schemes.

It was in August 2015 that the Supreme Court (SC) referred to a Constitution Bench a batch of petitions challenging the Centre's ambitious scheme to provide Aadhaar card to all citizens and decide whether right to privacy is a fundamental right.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Centre, had said that the matter requires elaborate debate and an authoritative pronouncement in view of the fact that there have been inconsistent decisions as to whether right to privacy is a fundamental right.

He had cited two judgements, pronounced by six and eight- judge benches, which had held that right to privacy is not a fundamental right.

Subsequently, smaller benches had held contrary view and, hence this matter needed to be decided by a larger bench, the attorney general had said.

Meanwhile, a new book on Aadhaar seeks to answer several questions associated with the 12-digit identification number and its impact on the citizen-state relationship.

Authored by political-economy analyst Shankkar Aiyar, the book by Westland Publishing, offers a linear history on the "ups, downs and turnarounds of Aadhaar under two governments with diametrically differing ideologies".

Aadhaar was created on July 6, 2009, by the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who, sharing his insights on Aadhaar in the book has said, "I was not satisfied with merely letting it happen. I was determined to make it happen."

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