Four Non-BJP States Oppose Centre, Move SC For Right to Privacy

Besides Karnataka and WB, Congress-led Punjab and Puducherry also intervened in the Right to Privacy hearing.

Supreme Court of India in New Delhi. 

(Photo: Reuters)

Four non-BJP ruled states, including Karnataka and West Bengal, moved the Supreme Court on 26 July seeking to intervene in the ongoing hearing on the issue of whether the Right to Privacy can be declared as one of the Fundamental Rights under the Constitution.

Besides Karnataka and West Bengal, two Congress-led states of Punjab and Puducherry took a stand opposite to the Central government which had said that Right to Privacy is a common law right and not a Fundamental Right.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the four states, initiated his arguments before a nine-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar and said that in the light of technological advancement, the court is needed to take a fresh look on the Right to Privacy and its contours in the modern day.

"Privacy cannot be an absolute right. But it is a Fundamental Right. This court needs to strike a balance," he submitted before the bench also comprising Justices J Chelameswar, S A Bobde, R K Agrawal, Rohinton Fali Nariman, Abhay Manohar Sapre, D Y Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and S Abdul Nazeer

The apex court had on 18 July set up the Constitution bench after the matter was referred to a larger bench by a five-judge bench.

The petitioners had claimed that collection and sharing of biometric information, as required under the Aadhaar scheme, was a breach of the "fundamental" right to privacy.

The Centre had on 19 July submitted in the apex court that Right to Privacy cannot fall in the bracket of fundamental rights as there are binding decisions of larger benches that it is only a common law right evolved through judicial pronouncements.

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