Chief Justice to hear plea for Constitution bench on Aadhaar

Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, supported by Attorney General KK Venugopal, will request the Chief Justice of India JS Khehar to constitute a five-judge bench, or a larger one, to hear privacy issues connected with the Aadhaar matter.

In 2015, a five-judge bench led by the then Chief Justice of India, HL Dattu, had directed all matters pertaining to the privacy issue related to Aadhaar to a Constitution bench.

The oft-made request comes on the heels of an observation made by Justice Jasti Chelameshwar, who had said that a Constitution bench should dispose of all matters arising out of the Aadhaar issue once and for all.

Justice Chelameshwar's observation was made last week when the Aadhaar matter came up for hearing in front of the full bench in pursuance of a June 27 order delivered by a vacation bench. Divan, representing the petitioners, and Venugopal agreed with the court's suggestion and agreed to jointly mention the matter before the Chief Justice of India the next week.

"My opinion is that once a matter has been referred to a Constitution bench, then all the issues arising out of it should be with the constitution bench. I can only say that a matter can be disposed of by a nine-judge bench. You two can decide the possibility of nine judges hearing it," Justice Chelameswar, heading the three-judge bench also comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and Navin Sinha, had said.