9-judge SC bench reserves verdict on issue of privacy as fundamental right

New Delhi: The nine-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its judgement over issue of whether right to privacy is fundamental right or not.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday had said that there have to be "overarching" guidelines to protect an individual's private information in public domain to ensure that it was used only for an intended purpose.

A nine-judge Constitution bench, dealing with the contentious issue whether right to privacy was a fundamental right, rejected plea of a Gujarat government lawyer that misuse of personal information could be dealt with on a "case-to-case basis" and said an all-embracing guideline was needed keeping in mind the size of the population.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar, also referred to the fact that India was a signatory of a 1948 international convention which recognised privacy as a human right.

On July 26, the Centre told the apex court that there is a fundamental right to privacy, but is a 'wholly qualified right'.

The centre made this submission before the nine-judge Constitution bench that is hearing the Aadhaar Card privacy matter.

Attorney General, K.K. Venugopal told the apex court that "privacy, as a fundamental right, could have been mentioned in Article 21, but has been omitted. Right to life transcends right to privacy".

In special circumstances, government can interfere in a matter that comes under a wholly qualified right. An absolute right cannot be reduced or amended.

Earlier on July 20, all the petitioners had completed their argument in the apex court. The petitioners contested that the twelve-digit biometric unique identification card raises privacy threat.

On June 10, the top court had ruled that from July 1 onward, every person eligible to obtain Aadhar card must quote their Aadhaar number or their Aadhaar Enrolment ID number for filing of Income Tax Returns as well as for applications for Permanent Account Number (PAN).

The Income Tax Department has stepped up its efforts to encourage people to link their PAN with Aadhar.