SC Constitution Bench To Hear Aadhaar Case By End Of November

Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, on Monday, told Senior Advocate Gopal Subramanian that he will try to constitute a Constitution Bench for hearing the Aadhaar matter by the end of November.

The matter was mentioned by Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, who demanded that the case be heard in March. This was objected to by Senior Advocate Shyam Divan.

Mr. Subramanian further chipped in, demanding that there should be no compulsion for linking various services with Aadhaar if the hearing is postponed. CJI Misra then said that he would attempt to constitute a Bench by the end of November.

Last week, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal had informed the Apex Court that the Centre is willing to extend the deadline for linking various services to Aadhaar till March, 2018. He had, however, clarified that this extension is only proposed to be given to those who have not enrolled for Aadhaar yet.

The Centre's stand was strongly objected to by Mr. Divan, Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Mr. Arvind Datar and Mr. Anand Grover. They had argued that if the deadline was being extended, it should be done for everyone, including those people who already have enrolled for Aadhaar. Alternatively, they suggested that the Government should refrain from taking coercive action against those who did not link Aadhaar to services till March, 2018.