SC indicates Right to Privacy verdict in next one week

The court's remark came on a plea by senior advocate Salman Khurshid

Press Trust of India  |  New Delhi 

Tripods of television crew stand in front of the Indian Supreme Court building in New Delhi
Tripods of television crew stand in front of the Indian Supreme Court building in New Delhi. Photo: Reuters

The Supreme on Friday indicated it may deliver its verdict on whether the constitutes a fundamental right under the Constitution next week.

A bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice said by next week the judgement on the status of could be pronounced.


The court's remark came on a plea by senior advocate who sought urgent listing of his challenging passing of the Bill as a Money Bill.

"There are some matters in which notices have been issued while in some notices have not been issued till now," Khurshid said.

To this, the said, all matters will be taken up once the verdict on is delivered.

"We can't fix the date for your bill. You wait for one week by which time verdict may come, then we will give the date for listing of your plea," the said.

A nine-judge Constitution bench had reserved its verdict on the issue on August 2 after voicing concern over possible misuse of personal information in public domain.

It had observed that protection of the concept of privacy in the technological era was a "losing battle".

The Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar, had heard marathon arguments on six days over three weeks.

A battery of senior lawyers, including Attorney General K K Venugopal, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Arvind Datar, Kapil Sibal, Gopal Subaramaniam, Shayam Divan, Anand Grover, C A Sundaram and Rakesh Dwivedi, had advanced arguments in favour and against the inclusion of as a fundamental right.

The bench, which had favoured "overarching" guidelines to protect private information in public domain, said there was a need to "maintain the core of privacy" as the notion of privacy was fast becoming irrelevant in an all-pervading technological era.

It had said, "We are fighting a losing battle of privacy. We do not know for what purpose the information will be used. This is exactly a cause of concern.