Though today’s judgment was limited to only right to privacy, senior counsel Prashant Bhushan has, however, said it was setback to the government.
With the nine-judge constitution bench unanimously holding the right to privacy as a fundamental right protected under Article 21 of the Constitution, the action will now move to a five-judge bench which has been hearing the Aadhaar case since 2015. The bench will decide whether Aadhaar violates right to privacy.
Though today’s judgment was limited to only right to privacy, senior counsel Prashant Bhushan has, however, said it was setback to the government.
On July 7, a three-judge bench had said that all issues dealing with Aadhaar should be decided by a larger bench. Chief Justice of India Justice Khehar had then set up a five-judge constitution bench to hear the matter. However, on July 18, the five-judge constitution bench decided to set up a nine-judge bench to decide whether the right to privacy can be declared a fundamental right under the Constitution.
The decision to set up the nine-judge bench was taken to examine the correctness of two apex court judgements delivered in the cases of Kharak Singh and M P Sharma in which it was held that this right was not a fundamental right.
The nine-judge bench on Thursday has now overruled the judgments in the M P Sharma and Kharak Singh cases.
