SC to start hearing petitions challenging Aadhaar

Amid the ongoing rift between the Chief Justice of India and some of the senior-most judges, the Supreme Court will from Monday start hearing the petitions challenging Aadhaar and other important issues, including the infidelity petition.

The five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra will be hearing the petitions on the validity of the 12-digit biometric identification number from Monday, a notification from the top court said. While it does not specify the composition of the bench, the other four judges are likely to be AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, as they were part of the bench that on December 15 extended the deadline for linking Aadhaar with mobile phone numbers and new bank accounts to March 31 this year.

The final hearing in the matter will begin five years after the first petition was filed.

In its earlier order, the court had said people can open accounts by submitting the application number for Aadhaar, but it had to be furnished to the banks by March 31.

Apart from the Aadhaar petitions, the notice lists three more cases to be heard by the Constitution Bench, including petitions against the Indian Penal Code (IPC) provision that makes adultery an offence against a man and not a woman; Section 377 of the IPC that criminalises homosexuality; and a ban on the entry of women between 10 and 50 years in Kerala's Sabarimala temple.

The bench will hear a case filed by two Parsi women questioning a Gujarat high court verdict that said a woman loses her religious identity once she marries a man from another religion.

The notice does not specify whether the same bench hearing Aadhaar petitions will hear the same cases as well. However, according to practice and convention, once the bench is notified it does not change unless a fresh notice is issued.