A five-judge Constitution bench will start hearing all Aadhaar-related matters from Tuesday. The bench will take up multiple petitions that challenge the government’s notification making Aadhaar mandatory for availing several social welfare schemes benefits. The hearings will continue on Thursday.

On July 7, the Supreme Court had recommended setting up a Constitutional bench to decide on all Aadhaar-related matters. After Attorney General KK Venugopal had pointed out that an earlier eight-judge bench had already ruled that the right to privacy is not a fundamental right, the apex court had said that the Constitution bench will decide whether the Aadhaar matter should be referred to a nine-judge bench.

On June 27, a vacation bench had rejected a plea to pass an interim order against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government’s notification to make Aadhaar mandatory when applying for social welfare schemes. The top court, however, did say that those without Aadhaar cards could not be deprived of any government schemes or benefits till the next hearing.