Government battles for Aadhar saying it is necessary to plug leakages in subsidy schemes and to ensure benefits reach those targeted. But critics say the move violates privacy, is vulnerable to data breaches and helps the government spy on people.
The Supreme Court is expected to hold a hearing to decide if privacy is a fundamental right, a question that has a bearing on the government’s push for Aadhaar, the 12-digit biometric identity number.
The court said on Tuesday that before taking up the petitions that challenged Aadhaar for violating privacy, the court needed to settle the constitutional status of the right to privacy.
“During the course of hearing today it has become essential for us to determine whether the right to privacy is a fundamental right under the Constitution,” a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar had said.
I ordered a nine-judge bench to look into the matter and revisit the court’s rulings that said the right to privacy was not a fundamental right.
“The determination of this question would essentially entail whether the decision recorded by an eight-judge bench in 1954 and also by a six-judge bench in 1962 that there is no such fundamental right is the correct expression of constitutional provisions,” the court said.
