In a 4:1 majority judgment, the apex court's five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra declared the Centres flagship Aadhaar scheme as Constitutionally valid. The bench said it is meant to help benefits reach the marginalised sections of the society and takes into account the dignity of people not only from personal but also from community point of view.

There are three sets of judgments being pronounced on the issue.

The first of the three verdicts was pronounced by Justice A K Sikri who wrote the judgment for himself, the CJI and Justice A M Khanwilkar.

Justice Ashok Bhushan concurs with the majority verdict of CJI, Justices Sikri and Khanwilkar, but Justice DY  Chandrachud dissents, striking  down Aadhaar.  He said in the current form Aadhaar Act cannot be held to be Constitutional.

This is what Justice Chandrachud says:

Security concerns: -- Constitutional guarantees cannot be left to risks posed by technological advancements.

--  Absence of indepedent regulatory framework compromises data protection.

-- Aadhaar Act therefore cannot pass tests under Article 14.

-- Allowing private players to use Aadhaar will lead to profiling which could be used in ascertaining political views etc of citizens.


-- Mandating Aadhaar for benefits and services under Section 7 would lead to a situation in which citizens will not be able to live without Aadhaar. Hence, Section 7 is arbitrary and unconstitutional.

-- Justice Chandrachud comes down on Central government for passing notifications on Aadhaar in violation of interim orders of SC.

-- Propriety demands that Centre should have approached this Court for variation of its orders.

-- Enactment of Aadhaar Act does not save the Aadhaar scheme of the Centre. Bypassing Rajya Sabha to pass Aadhaar Act amounts to subterfuge.

-- Justice Chandrachud favours deletion of consumers' Aadhaar data by mobile service providers.