Aadhaar card privacy issue: SC refers matter to nine-judge bench

The Supreme Court on Tuesday set up a nine-judge bench to examine whether right to privacy is a fundamental right under Constitution.

The SC decision to form the 9-judge bench came while hearing petitions on linking of PAN card with Aadhaar.

The bench comprising of Chief Justice of India JS Khehar, and Justices DY Chandrachud, J Chelameswar, SA Bobde and Abdul Nazeer, passed the order.

The bench will examine a plethora of issues arising out of the Centre's 12-digit biometric identification number.

The Supreme Court had last month upheld the validity of an Income Tax Act provision making Aadhaar mandatory for allotment of PAN cards and ITR filing, but had put a partial stay on its implementation till a Constitution bench addressed the issue of right to privacy.Aadhaar has also been made mandatory for applying for PAN with effect from July 1.

While Aadhaar is issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to a resident of India, PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number alloted by the I-T department to a person, firm or entity.

There are about 30 crore PAN numbers allotted, while Aadhaar has been alloted to about 115 crore people.

(With agency inputs)