The importance of Aaddhar card has been known to the people very well. The Government of India has made it mandatory to link Aadhar Card with Bank accounts, PAN card, phone numbers and for availing benefits of government schemes etc. Although the government has extended deadline for linking so many times, now it is extended to March 31, 2018. It is applied to those who have not enrolled for Aadhar till now.
This decision to further defer the deadline was result of petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the decision to make linking of mobile numbers and bank accounts with Aadhaar a must. Petitoners called this mandatory linking illegal.
Almost 22 cases have to be heard by a smaller constitution bench on Aadhaar. Among these challenges, there are issues on making Aadhaar mandatory for social welfare benefits, infringement of the right to privacy, and making Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns and for obtaining and retaining a permanent account number. The decision to link it to mobile phones will also be considered by the court.
For availing social benefits, the last date of mandatory linking was September 30. It was later changed to December 31, 2017. As many as 135 welfare schemes (of 35 ministries) including the free cooking gas (LPG) to poor women, kerosene and fertiliser subsidy, targeted public distribution system and the government’s employment guarantee programme will be covered by the extension.
It is also mentioned that central government will not take ‘coercive’ action against those without Aadhaar and will also not be denied social welfare scheme benefits till March 31.
