‘Privacy right’ empowers ‘Aadhaar petitioners’ to demand early hearing

The Supreme Court’s nine-member Constitutional Bench’s decision on the Right to Privacy has empowered the petitioners of the Aadhaar case to demand an early adjudication on the validity of the government’s decision to link the Aadhaar card to various welfare schemes directly handled by the central government. As per the government’s proposed plan, those who claim benefits of those welfare schemes, which demand its beneficiaries should be having an Aadhaar card or number, cannot avail the benefit after the prescribed deadline of September 30 if he/she do not have an Aadhaar number or card and he/she do not link his card or number with the welfare schemes.

Earlier, the historic trial handled by the five-judge Constitutional Bench met a standstill, when the court confronted a serious question whether the Right to Privacy a fundamental right of the citizen or not. When the nine-member Constitution bench has finally ruled that the Right to Privacy is an integral part of the Constitution and is a fundamental right inherent to the Right to Life and Personal Liberty, Senior advocates Shyam Divan and Vipin Nair who represent the petitioners, have received the strength to proceed with the historic case courageously and have decided to request an early hearing as they strongly believe that it is unfair to make the Aadhaar card mandatory to avail the benefits of nearly seventeen selected welfare schemes. Now, the ball is on the court’s hand. It is up to the concerned court to decide whether the controversial Aadhaar Act 2016 is constitutional or not.

Vignesh

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