New Delhi, Sep. 25 (IANS): The Supreme Court will likely pronounce on Wednesday its verdict on the batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar on grounds of it being violative of the fundamental right to privacy.
Besides the validity of Aadhaar, the verdict on challenge to the tabling of Aadhaar as a money bill will also be important as it would have a bearing on the powers of the Lok Sabha Speaker. The five-judge constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.K. Sikri, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Ashok Bhushan had reserved the verdict after hearing the petitions for over 38 days starting January 17 this year.
Besides the constitutional validity of Aadhaar on the touchstone of right to privacy, the other issue, if Aadhaar is to stay, what would be the scope and width of its applicability.
As of now Centre has issued 139 notifications, practically touching every aspect of a citizen’s day-to-day life, making Aadhaar linking mandatory.
An offshoot of challenge to Aadhaar scheme on the grounds of it being violative of right to privacy was that a nine-judge constitution bench examined the issue and in August 2017 had held that the right to privacy was a fundamentals right. The August 2017 verdict holding privacy a fundamental right is likely to impact the Aadhaar verdict.
While holding that the right to privacy was a fundamental right, Justice Chandrachud in his August 2017 judgment had said, “Apart from national security, the state may have justifiable reasons for the collection and storage of data. In a social welfare state, the government embarks upon programmes which provide benefits to impoverished and marginalised sections of society.”
Speaking on data protection in August 2017 judgment Justice Chandrachud had said, “Informational privacy is a facet of the right to privacy. The dangers to privacy in an age of information can originate not only from the state but from non-state actors as well.”
In the course of the Aadhaar hearing, the constitution bench had described data as a “goldmine of commercial information.”
