All Aadhaar linking deadlines extended till March 31, validity hearing in Jan

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday extended deadline up to March 31 next year for linking of Aadhaar with various schemes and welfare measures.

Passing the interim order, the five-judge Constitution bench of Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said that the deadline of February 6 for linking Aadhaar card with mobile services also stands extended up to March 31.

The bench, which also comprised Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, said that for opening new bank accounts, an applicant will not be required to provide Aadhaar card number to the bank.

However, the applicant will have to show the proof to the bank that he/she has applied for the Aadhaar number, Justice Chandrachud, who wrote the unanimous interim order, said.

Deadline of March 31 will also apply to schemes by States. The interim order would be subject to the final outcome of the batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act on the grounds of it violating the fundamental right to privacy.

The next hearing would take place on January 17, 2018.

The Centre had on Wednesday extended by three months till March 31, 2018 the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar card and PAN for all bank accounts and certain financial transactions.

The government had made quoting of the 12-digit biometric identifier Aadhaar mandatory for old and new bank accounts as well as for any financial transaction of Rs 50,000 and above.

The previous deadline was December 31, 2017.