March 31 no longer deadline to link Aadhaar with bank, mobile services: Supreme Court

March 13, 2018 156 Views No Comment

The Supreme Court today extended the March 31 deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to avail various services and welfare schemes run by the government till its constitution bench delivered its verdict on the validity of the 12-digit biometric number and its enabling law.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra extended the deadline after the Centre said it had already submitted that they were ready to extend the March 31 deadline for linking of the national biometric identifier with all services and welfare schemes.

“We direct that the March 31, 2018, deadline for linking of Aadhaar with various services and welfare schemes stand extended till the matter is heard and judgement is pronounced by the constitution bench,” the bench also comprising Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan said.

The extension of deadline would also apply on the mandatory linking of Aadhaar with the bank accounts and mobile phone numbers. The constitution bench is hearing a batch of petitions which have challenged the constitutional validity of Aadhaar and its enabling Act. On March 6, Attorney General K K Venugopal had indicated to the bench that the Centre was willing to extend the March 31 deadline in the wake of prolonged hearing of the matter.

On December 15 last year, the apex court had extended till March 31 the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar with various services and welfare schemes. If you haven’t linked your Aadhaar to your mobile number or bank account yet, this might come as a relief. The Constitution Bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, hearing a bunch of petitions against the Aadhaar law, was informed by Attorney General K K Venugopal that the Centre had extended the deadline in the past, too, and that it could do so again.

“If required, we can do it again,” Venugopal said, after petitioners challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar scheme sought an extension of the deadline to link the 12-digit unique identity number with various government schemes and services. The petitioners, for their part, said that the deadline was approaching and the case was unlikely to be decided by March 31.

On December 15, 2017, the apex court had directed that the deadline for the linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts and mobile phones be extended until March 31.The Constitution Bench is hearing challenges to the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar scheme on the touchstone of the fundamental right to privacy on a bunch of petitions by former Karnataka High Court Judge K S Puttuswamy, Magsaysay awardee Shanta Sinha, feminist researcher Kalyani Sen Menon, and others.

What does Aadhaar deadline extension mean to you?

Over the last two weeks, mobile phone cellular service providers and banks have been messaging its clients to link one’s Aadhaar to their account or mobile phone. The order makes it clear that one does not have to link it until the Supreme Court passes its verdict in the case. So, for now, you can continue to ignore those messages.

Know SC order in 5 points

The deadline for linking Aadhaar with mobile phones and bank accounts has been extended indefinitely
The SC said that its interim order will remain in force till further verdict
The apex court had last year extended the deadline to March 31
“The government cannot insist for mandatory Aadhaar even for issuance of Tatkal passport,” the Supreme Court said
However, has made it clear that Aadhaar will be required for subsidies and benefits under Section 7 of the Constitution

Social Security schemes that come under Aadhaar ambit are:

In Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

This flagship scheme launched by the Modi government aims to provide free LPG connection to below poverty line (BPL) families. The scheme uses Aadhaar to verify the claim of the beneficiary and to transfer the subsidy amount.

For digital payments

The Unified Payment Interface and the recently launched BHIM app support Aadhaar based money transfer. The IDFC Bank has recently rolled out Aadhaar Pay, where the customer’s fingerprint is used to pay the merchant.

In Direct Benefit Transfer

The first major rollout of Aadhaar based service was Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), a mechanism to hand over the subsidy and welfare amount directly to the beneficiary’s bank account, instead of the existing practice of giving banker’s cheque or cash. As of today 92 centrally-sponsored schemes from 19 Ministries are implemented through DBT. The prominent among them are PAHAL for LPG subsidy, cash transfer of food subsidy and MGNREGA.