SC dismisses Aadhaar review petitions: All you need to know

The majority view in the Aadhaar case has said that the 2019 judgment was not sufficient to press for a reconsideration of the 2018 Aadhaar judgment

The Supreme Court has, by a majority verdict, dismissed a clutch of petitions seeking a review of its 2018 judgment that validated the Aadhaar Act even as one of the five judges on the bench that heard the matter termed it a “constitutional error”. Here is all you need to know about the matter:

A view of Supreme Court in New Delhi. (Sonu Mehta/HT PHOTO)

• A Constitution Bench affirmed by 4-1 the verdict in September 2018 when the top court upheld the country’s biometric identity system and also cleared mandatory Aadhaar enrolment of recipients of government welfare benefits.

• The court, in its verdict, had also approved the passage of Aadhaar law by Parliament as a money bill, which did not require the approval of the Rajya Sabha.

• The Supreme Court considered the bunch of review petitions in judges’ chambers on January 11. The court order was released on Wednesday in which the five-judge bench, headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, held that “no case for review” of the 2018 judgment had been made out.

• Justice DY Chandrachud disagreed and wrote a separate order, suggesting that any decision must wait for a larger bench to determine whether the Aadhaar verdict was correct in interpreting what could constitute a “money bill.”

• In split verdicts, the view of the majority holds.

• Justice Chandrachud had in the 2018 judgment also held that Aadhaar could not have been passed as a money bill.

• The majority view refused to await a word from the larger bench, as it declined to take into account a subsequent judgment in 2019 by another five-judge bench.

• That bench had raised doubts on the correctness of the Aadhaar verdict and preferred that a seven-judge-bench re-examine it. The seven-judge-bench is yet to be constituted.

• The majority view in the Aadhaar case has said that the 2019 judgment was not sufficient to press for a reconsideration of the 2018 Aadhaar judgment.

• Justice Chandrachud dissented with the majority view and said that the 2019 judgment questioning the correctness of the Aadhaar verdict was a relevant fact and that the apex court must wait for the larger bench of seven judges to decide these pertinent issues.

• In his separate order, the judge added that dismissal of the review petitions without waiting for the larger bench’s decision would place a seal of finality on the issues in the present case, without the court having the benefit of the larger bench’s consideration of the very issues which arise before the bench.