As Justice JS Khehar’s tenure as the Chief Justice of India (CJI) draws closer, a landmark judgement is awaiting the citizens of India. Later today, a nine-judge bench will deliver the judgement on whether right to privacy can be elevated as a fundamental right, Bar and Bench reported.

The nine judge bench comprising the CJI, Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman, Abdul Nazeer, DY Chandrachud, J Chelameswar, AM Sapre, SA Bobde, SK Kaul and RK Agarwal heard counsels for six days starting from July 19 to August 2. 

Though this judgement will not directly affect the fate of the Aadhaar scheme, it will have a bearing on the cases filed by petitioners challenging its constitutional validity. The bench will have examined the contours of privacy based on which it will decide the extent of right to privacy a citizen can exercise under the Constitution.

The point of contention were two cases, Kharak Singh vs State of UP (1962) and MP Sharma vs Satish Chandra (1954), where the judgements held that there was no right to privacy. Based on this, the five-judge bench hearing the Aadhaar case referred the “limited” point of privacy to a nine-judge bench on July 18. 

The legal counsels for the petitioners argued that there were 40 other judgements that recognised the right and that privacy is present in all aspects of life and liberty. Eight senior advocates argued on behalf of the petitioners that sought right to privacy be elevated as a fundamental right. Shyam Divan categorically stated in court that privacy entailed four major aspects, “freedom of thought, freedom to dissent, bodily integrity, informational self-determination”. 

The centre’s arguments were put forward by Attorney General (AG) KK Venugopal and five others who argued that right to privacy could not be absolute. AG submitted that the matter of privacy could be argued in developed countries but not in a country like India where people struggle to get basic amenities. He added that privacy is a “sociological notion and not a legal concept”.

The verdict will determine if privacy is a fundamental right, common law right or simply a “sociological notion”. After the judgement, the five-judge constitution bench will resume hearing the Aadhaar case.