indo–asian news service
New Delhi, August 2: The Supreme Court Wednesday reserved its judgment on whether the right to privacy can be considered a fundamental right under the Indian Constitution. The nine-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar reserved the order after hearing the matter in the last two weeks.
The bench comprises Justice J. Chelameswar, Justice S.A. Bobde, Justice R.K. Agrawal, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer.
During the hearing, the Gujarat government told the court that transparency is a key component in the technological era and providing basic personal information could not be covered under the right to privacy. Some aspects of privacy may be traced to various fundamental rights but providing basic personal information to authorities was needed to bring in more transparency in the present technological era, Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Gujarat government, told the bench.
Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the central government, had earlier told the court that there is “no fundamental right to privacy”, as it is multi-faceted and every facet will not be eligible to claim the status of a fundamental right.
Senior Advocate Aryama Sundaram, appearing for Maharashtra, echoed the stand that privacy is not a fundamental right.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing states not ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party — Karnataka, West Bengal, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Puducherry — had backed the constitutionality of the right to privacy.
Sibal had told the court that these states supported the contention that the right to privacy be held as fundamental right in the age of technological advancements.
