The announcement came on a day when the government told the Supreme Court that the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to avail benefits of various government schemes would be extended till March 31 next year.
NEW DELHI: The Centre may extend the deadline for linking Aadhaar cards to various welfare schemes to March 31, 2018, Attorney General K K Venugopal told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.As of now, December 31, 2017 is the deadline for linking Aadhaar to avail benefits of various schemes like government scholarships, subsidised LPG cylinders, farm loans and pension schemes.
A case on the constitutional validity of Aadhaar is as of now pending in the Supreme Court.Shyam Divan and other lawyers appearing for the petitioners raised strong objections to this and the decision to not extend the deadline for those who already have Aadhaar.
The Reserve Bank of India, too, had announced last week that bank account holders across the country will have to compulsorily link their accounts to their Aadhaar number by December 31, 2017. It also clarified that linking Aadhaar to bank accounts is mandatory.
The union government had earlier said the deadline to furnish Aadhaar to avail benefits of welfare schemes will be extended until December 31.Attorney General KK Venugopal said that government wanted the case to be deferred because a committee was looking into drafting a data protection law.
Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said mobile numbers can be linked with Aadhaar through OTP (one time password), app or IVRS facility. This has been done to simplify the process and make it convenient for people, the minister said.
The government has made it mandatory to link Aadhaar cards with bank accounts, permanent account numbers (PAN), income tax return (ITR), social security schemes and mobile phones. The deadlines for each vary. The deadline for linking Aadhaar with PAN for tax returns is December 31 and the same for linking the biometric number with mobile number (SIM) is February 6, 2018.
