Supreme Court Constitution Bench To Hear Aadhaar Pleas From November Last Week
Supreme Court to set up constitution bench to hear petitions against Aadhaar mandate.
The Supreme Court today said it will set up a Constitution bench to hear a clutch of petitions challenging the Centre’s decision to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing various services and government welfare schemes.
The larger bench would commence hearing on these petitions in the last week of November this year, a bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, said. The hearings would likely decide the fate of several key social sector benefits as well as the delivery of a range of services such as telecom and banking linked to Aadhaar.
The direction was passed by the bench after the Centre said it would not extend the deadline for linking Aadhaar to various schemes to March 31 next year. On 25 October, the Centre had told the court that it was willing to extend the deadline for linking Aadhaar to various schemes but only for those who have not yet enrolled for Aadhaar, only to do a rethink today.
The issue of extending the deadline arose after several petitioners challenged the validity of Aadhaar, saying it was violative of privacy rights. Senior advocates Gopal Subramanium and Shyam Divan, appearing for those opposing the Aadhaar scheme, had sought urgent hearing on these petitions.
The petitioners had termed the linking of the Unique Identification Authority of India number with bank accounts and mobile numbers as illegal and unconstitutional and strongly objected to the Central Bureau of Secondary Education’s move to make it mandatory for students to appear for exams.
Earlier today, the apex court questioned the West Bengal government for filing a plea challenging the Centre’s move to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing benefits of various social welfare schemes while asking how a state could challenge the mandate of Parliament. It also asked the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to file the plea in an individual capacity.
(With inputs from PTI)