Supreme Court to set up 5-judge Constitution bench to hear whether Aadhar violates privacy

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to set up a five-judge Constitution bench that will next week hear whether Aadhaar violates the right to privacy.
It scheduled the hearing for July 18 and 19.
The apex court is hearing numerous petitions challenging the constitutionality of making Aadhaar, or Unique Identification Document, mandatory. The petitions say that the kind of personal details this document requires violate citizens' privacy rights.
Appearing for the Centre, attorney general KK Venugopal said that an earlier eight-judge bench had already ruled that the right to privacy is not a fundamental right.
The apex court then said that this five-judge bench will individually determine whether the Aadhaar-privacy issues needs to be referred to a nine-judge bench. It will then have to weigh its decision with that of the earlier eight-judge one to determine whether a third and larger bench needs to be set up.