This is what Supreme Court says about the linking of Aadhaar with various services and its deadline

This is what Supreme Court says about the linking of Aadhaar with various services and its deadline

The Supreme Court today extended all deadlines for linking Aadhaar to bank accounts, mobile phones and other services indefinitely, till a judgement is pronounced in the matter.

However, it said that the extension will not apply to government services and subsidies under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act. A five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra in its interim order said that this extension will not affect the linking of Aadhaar with the disbursal of benefits under social welfare schemes.

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Section 7 is related to targeted delivery of financial and other subsidies, benefits and services. This means those getting subsidy under government schemes will be required to give their unique identity number. The top court had on December 15, 2017, extended the deadline for linking of Aadhaar with mobile phones and opening of new bank accounts to March 31. The deadline is also applicable to the central and state government schemes.

The Constitution Bench is hearing around 30 petitions challenging several aspects of Aadhaar scheme. The petitions include the validity of Aadhaar and possible leakage of data, making Aadhaar mandatory for social welfare benefits and for filing income tax returns as well as for obtaining and retaining PAN, apart from the mandatory parting of biometric details like iris scans and fingerprints, thus alleging violation of the citizens’ right to privacy.