Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) & Another v. Union of India & Others
Background
This is a referral order, not a final judgment. Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) and others challenged the Aadhaar scheme, raising the question whether the Constitution guarantees a fundamental right to privacy. Two earlier decisions, M.P. Sharma by eight judges and Kharak Singh by six judges, had cast doubt on such a right, while later decisions by smaller benches had asserted it.
Decision Breakdown
This is a referral order, not a final judgment. On 11 August 2015 the three-judge bench held that this conflict could only be settled by a bench of appropriate strength and directed the Registry to place the matters before the Chief Justice of India to constitute a larger bench, to be heard at the earliest. In an interim order the same day, it declined to grant an injunction against the Aadhaar scheme. It directed the Union of India to publicise that Aadhaar enrolment is not mandatory and to restrict the use of Aadhaar data to specified welfare schemes until the larger bench finally decides the matter.
Lesson Learnt
This order gave no final ruling on whether privacy is a fundamental right; that question was left to a larger bench. In the meantime, Aadhaar enrolment was not mandatory and Aadhaar data could be used only for specified welfare schemes.