From Aadhaar to BH Loya case: Cases in Supreme Court this week

The Supreme Court during this week will continue to hear two important cases, namely petitions petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar scheme and pleas for probe into the death of special CBI judge BH Loya.

A 5-judge constitution bench led by Dipak Misra will resume the hearing of petitions challenging the Aadhaar.

On December 15, the Supreme Court had ordered that the deadline for linking Aadhaar to mobile phone numbers be extended till March 31, 2018.


This became necessary as the apex court had — in an earlier order on February 6, 2017, while hearing a PIL — directed that an e-KYC scheme launched by the government to verify phone numbers using Aadhaar be completed in one year. Accordingly, the deadline could be revised only by a new order.

The question of linking PAN cards with Aadhaar was settled by the court in June 2017, while dealing with a petition by former Kerala minister Binoy Viswam. A two-judge bench had upheld the move and directed that those who already have Aadhaar must link it with their PAN cards.

Upholding privacy as fundamental right, the SC had raised vital questions on data privacy and asked the government to consider putting in place a data protection law. Subsequently, the government set up a committee, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice B N Srikrishna, to look into the issue and submit a report. The report is expected by March.

Judge Loya
A three-judge bench led by CJI Dipak Misra is hearing a plea that a special investigation team should probe allegations of foul play in the death of Loya, who was handling the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case in which BJP chief Amit Shah was the key accused. The other judges on the bench are justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud.