Aadhaar [Day-3 Session-1] Aadhaar Law Must Be Tested By The Same Standards By Which A Law Which Violates Art. 21 Is Liable To Be Tested: Shyam Divan Finds Support From Privacy Judgment

As the hearing on the string of writ petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Aadhaar Act of 2016 resumed on Tuesday, Senior Counsel Shyam Diwan drew the attention of the five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court to the various aspects of the judgement dated August 24, 2017 in Justice K. S. Puttaswamy.Summarising the voluminous judgement in two pages, Mr. Diwan postulated. Summarising the voluminous judgement in two pages, Mr. Diwan postulated the points of significance- “The judgment is declaratory of the Fundamental Right to privacy.the judges concur that the right had always existed.it is only a derivative of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution” “The right to privacy is a natural right; it is inalienable and inseparable from the existence of a human being. “The rule of law also has two aspects- one, the numerous interim orders passed by the 9 judge constitution bench categorically stating that Aadhaar shall not be used as a parameter for excluding persons from the entitlement to social schemes and other services until the matter is finally disposed off, and secondly, the introduction of the Aadhaar Act of 2016 as a money bill” In the course of the hearing prior to the lunch hour, Mr. Diwan recited various paragraphs of the judgment- the plurality judgement by Justice Chandrachud, as well as the separate but concurring judgements of other judges- “While it intervenes to protect legitimate state interests, the state must nevertheless put into place a robust regime that ensures the fulfilment of a three-fold requirement.The first requirement that there must be a law in existence to justify an encroachment on privacy is an express requirement of Article 21. In this sense, privacy is usually best understood as a relational right, even as its content frequently concerns the exclusion of others from one’s society” In context of the standards of review of privacy violations, the Senior Counsel quoted, “At a minimum, since privacy is always integrated with personal liberty, the constitutionality of the law which is alleged to have invaded into a rights bearer’s privacy must be tested by the same standards by which a law which invades personal liberty under Article 21 is liable to be tested”.