SC Constitution bench to pronounce order on Aadhaar today

New Delhi: A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court will on Friday pronounce its verdict on a batch of pleas seeking an interim stay on the Centre's decision on mandatory linking of Aadhaar with various government schemes and welfare measures.

The pleas includes various schemes including taking exam by the students, availing scholarship, cremation and treatment of HIV positive patients.

In a related case, the bench yesterday reserved its judgement on pleas seeking interim relief against the Centre's decision on linking of Aadhaar with various schemes.

The Centre had on Wednesday extended by three months till March 31, 2018 the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar 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.

Recently, a nine-judge Constitution bench of the apex court had held that Right to Privacy was a Fundamental Right under the Constitution. Several petitioners, challenging the validity of Aadhaar, had claimed that the Centre's order violated privacy rights.

The Centre had on October 25 told the top court that the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to receive benefits of government schemes has been extended till March 31, 2018 for those who do not have the 12-digit unique biometric identification number and were willing to enrol for it.

The Attorney General had told the court that no coercive action would be taken against those who do not have the Aadhaar card but are willing to enrol for. He had said such people would not be denied the benefits of social welfare schemes till March 31.

Some petitioners in the top court have termed the linking of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) number with bank accounts and mobile numbers as "illegal and unconstitutional".

With Agency Inputs