Replying to a plea filed by the Supreme Court, the Centre in a fresh affidavit also decided to extend the deadline for linking the 12-digit biometric Aadhaar with existing bank accounts till March 31, 2018.

The centre in the affidavit stated that until March 31, existing bank accounts will not be made non-operational for not linking with Aadhaar. It added for existing account holders, the deadline for Aadhaar based verification is being extended to March 31 and no coercive action will be taken till then, reported in Times of India.

As far as opening new bank accounts are concerned, Aadhaar or enrolment ID must be given as proof of identity.

Existing holder were earlier asked by the government to link their bank account with Aadhaar by end of December 30, 2017 or else they would become in valid.

On June 1, in an official notification, the governemt had said that if you fail to link the two, you bank account will be invalidated.

If you have submitted your Aadhaar details to bank, there are chances of getting it misplaced by the bank in hurry. However, you don't need to worry as you can check it in just few clicks:

1. Go to UIDAI website www.uidai.gov.in

2. Go to Aadhaar Services tab

3. Click "Check Aadhaar & bank Account Linking Status"

4. Enter your Aadhaar Number and the security number given in the box. This will generate an OTP.

5. Enter the OTP received on your registered mobile number.

6. The box will appear showing your Status with a tick mark.

While the Aadhaar card had been introduced by the previous UPA government, the current BJP-led government has been pushing for the card to be mandatory and linked to everything including the pan card, bank account, mobile phones, drivers license and even for children admission into schools.

Last week, the Supreme Court had issued a notice to Centre on separate plea challenging linking of mobile phone numbers with Aadhaar, seeks reply within four weeks.

In this regards, the centre stated that all subscribers had to link their mobile phone numbers with Aadhaar by February 6 under E-KYC verification.

Moreover, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on November 02, tweeted saying, “No need to give finger prints to local sim card retailer for your mobile verification.” It added, that from December 01, 2017, you can do it from comfort of your home through OTP received on mobile number registered with Aadhaar.