NEW DELHI: After a 45-day summer break, all eyes will be on the Supreme Court in July as there is likelihood of a rain of important verdicts and hearings in the apex court, the most crucial being its decision on the validity of Aadhaar.

At least 118 crore of the 133 crore population, who have already enrolled with Aadhaar and using their unique identification numbers for several purposes, would be anxiously looking up to the ruling of a five-judge bench — Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan — which had reserved its verdict on May 10 after a marathon hearing lasting 40 days.

The bench’s verdict will weigh on the scales of justice the Centre’s assurance on Aadhaar being blind to transactions, that is, it does not record and store biometrics of individuals and that the biometrics are hack-proof against the petitioners’ argument that it is a brazen intrusion into the citizens’ right to privacy as also a tool for the government to keep a leash on their activities. The verdict would be a landmark in the history of India.

The same five-judge bench, before taking up hearing of petitions questioning validity of Aadhaar, had reserved its verdict in December 5 last year on a petition filed by the Arvind Kejriwal government seeking interpretation of Article 239AA of the Constitution, which demarcates powers between the Centre and Delhi government while giving the national capital a truncated statehood despite maintaining the Centre’s authority over its administration on crucial fields.

The AAP government had been consistently complaining against the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, appointed by the Centre, and accusing him of constantly interfering in the elected government’s decisions to paralyse administration. The bench will have to interpret Article 239AA to find a solution to the constant acrimony between the elected government in Delhi and the central government’s role in administration of the national capital.

Recently, Kejriwal had led a dharna at LG’s house to protest against its schemes being stalled by the LG, allegedly at the Centre’s behest.

A bench of CJI Misra and Justices Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer will resume hearing appeals challenging an eight-year-old verdict of the Allahabad high court , which had equally divided the 2.77 acre Ram Janamboomi-Babri Masjid disputed site among three parties — Sunni Wakf Board, Ram Lalla (the idol) and Nirmohi Akhara.

A five-judge bench will also hear petitions, led by BJP functionary and advocate Ashiwini Upadhyay, challenging the practice of polygamy among Muslims. Like in the case of triple talaq, many women from the community have approached the SC after Upadhyay to question the validity of the practice of polygamy among a section of Muslim men.

