New Delhi, July 19: The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, is all set to decide whether right to privacy of the citizens is fundamental under the Indian Constitution or not. The issue will be heard by a nine-judge bench led by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) JS Khehar. The rest of the bench constitutes Justices J Chelameswar, SA Bobde, RK Agarwal, Rohinton Fali Nariman, Abhay Manohar Sapre, DY Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and S Abdul Nazeer.
The constitution of a nine-judge bench was decided by a five-judge bench during the hearings pertaining to whether Aadhaar Act violates a person’s right to privacy. Chief Justice Khehar has said on Tuesday that it is essential to determine whether there is a fundamental Right to Privacy in the Indian Constitution. “Determination of the question would essentially entail whether the decisions in MP Sharma and Kharak Singh [cases] that ‘there is no such fundamental right’ is the correct expression of the constitutional question,” he added.
Khehar also pressed on the need to first determine whether the Right to Privacy is a fundamental right or not before going into the issue. Though the hearing is expected to conclude on Wednesday itself, however, the possibility of it getting extended for another day cannot be ruled out.
The top court said the nine-judge bench will also examine the correctness of the position taken by an eight-judge bench in 1954, and subsequently by a six-judge bench in 1962. The court said both in 1954 and 1962, the benches had held that privacy is a not a fundamental right.
