CJI Dattu likely to decide on a larger bench for Aadhaar case on Friday

New Delhi: A constitution bench of the Supreme Court will on 14 October hear cases related to the restrictions imposed on the use of Aadhaar by its interim orders.

The strength of the bench is not known yet but chief justice H.L. Dattu on Thursday hinted that it could be nine and a decision on it will be taken by Friday.

In an “oral mentioning”, he said, “Question is do I have nine judges to spare? What happens to other matters? Please understand my problem. You will know by tomorrow evening.”

The Union government, regulatory agencies such as Securities and Exchange Board of India and Reserve Bank of India, and petitioners (who have challenged the Aadhaar scheme) have asked for a larger bench to hear the case at the earliest.

On Wednesday, the court had declined to modify an earlier interim order restricting the use of Aadhaar to identify beneficiaries of the public distribution scheme and subsidies on cooking gas and kerosene.

The interim order itself was passed on 11 August, wherein the court restricted the use of Aadhaar. On that day, a three-judge bench of the apex court also referred a question related to the right to privacy to a larger bench. This happened because the Union government had argued that there were doubts regarding the fundamental nature of the right to privacy. Those challenging the Aadhaar scheme had claimed that the collection of biometric data during the enrolment process was a violation of the right to privacy of citizens.

The Union government, represented by attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, informed the chief justice about the urgency of the issue as many government schemes were stuck on account of the court’s interim order.