The Supreme Court yesterday said that there have to be "overarching" guidelines to protect an individual's private information in public domain to ensure that it was used only for an intended purpose.

A nine-judge Constitution bench, dealing with the contentious issue whether right to privacy was a fundamental right, rejected the plea of a Gujarat government lawyer that misuse of personal information could be dealt with on a "case-to-case basis" and said an all-embracing guideline was needed keeping in mind the size of the population.