New Delhi: With the Centre refusing to make a commitment on extending the time limit for possession of Aadhaar cards for availing various social service benefits, the Supreme Court on Monday decided to set up a five judge Constitution bench in the last week of November to decide the validity of the Aadhaar law.
A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud took the decision to expedite the hearing after attorney-general K.K. Venugopal said that the government was prepared for an early hearing as nearly 100 notifications issued by various departments are under challenge.
He urged the CJI to set up a Constitution bench for this purpose.
The A-G submitted that falsehoods have been spread about Aadhaar linking, including how Aadhaar is a must for CBSE students to appear in their Class 10 and 12 examinations. He opposed the demand for passing interim orders to stay the notifications.
Last week, the A-G took adjournment to seek instructions on whether the time limit would be extended from December 31, 2017 to March 31, 2018 for those who did not possess Aadhaar cards to obtain the same and that no coercive steps would be taken against those who did not get Aadhaar cards.
On Monday, the A-G refused to give any such commitment or assurance and urged the court to expedite the hearing to decide the validity of the Aadhaar law. Senior counsel Shyam Divan, Kapil Sibal and Gopal Subramanium pressed for interim orders pointing out that Aadhaar had been made mandatory for a host of schemes.
The petitioners contended that the biometric data and iris scan that was being collected for the issuance of Aadhaar card violated the fundamental right to privacy of the citizens as personal data was not protected, and was vulnerable to exposure and misuse.
