The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, 13 March, extended the 31 March deadline for linking Aadhaar to mobile phones, bank accounts, tatkal passports, etc, till it delivers its judgment on petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act.
The five-judge constitution bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, said the government cannot insist on making Aadhaar mandatory for these services.
However, the SC clarified that for subsidies or direct benefit transfers, the deadline extension will not apply and would remain 31 March, under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act.
The five-judge constitution bench had on 7 March said it may not be possible to decide by 31 March the batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act, reported PTI.
Notably, on 6 March, Attorney General KK Venugopal had indicated to the bench that the Centre was willing to extend the 31 March deadline in the wake of prolonged hearing of the matter.
The extension of the deadline also covers the issuance of passports.
The bench, which also comprised Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, had earlier said that since the matter would have implications on financial institutions like banks and stock exchange, it would create a huge problem of compliance if the deadline was extended at the last moment.
On 15 December last year, the SC had extended till 31 March the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar with various services and welfare schemes.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)