Deadline to link Aadhaar with welfare schemes extended to March 31, 2018

NEW DELHI: The deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to avail benefits of government schemes has been postponed to March 31, 2018, the Centre informed the Supreme Court on Wednesday.Advocate General K K Venugopal told the apex court that the Union government will take no coercive action against those who do not have Aadhaar and they will not be denied social welfare scheme benefits till March 31.The Centre had earlier extended the last date for mandatory linking of the 12-digit biometric identification number to avail social benefits to December 31, 2017 from the earlier September 30.As many as 135 schemes (of 35 ministries) including the free cooking gas (LPG) to poor women, kerosene and fertilizer subsidy, targeted public distribution system (PDS) and MGNREGA will be covered by the extension.This latest move to further defer the deadline was in response to a slew 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.Petitioners vociferously raised the issue of mandatory linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts and mobile numbers, saying it is illegal. They also claimed that non-linking of Aadhaar with bank account would make citizens liable for prosecution under the PMLA Act AG K K Venugopal told the top court that he will get back with instruction from Centre on Monday on mandatory linking of bank account with Aadhaar.The new deadline is in line with the extension for Aadhaar for social services as the Supreme Court is still hearing a petition to make the unique ID mandatory for availing of government benefits.A nine-judge Constitution bench of the SC had in August ruled unanimously that the "right to privacy is an integral part of right to life and personal liberty guaranteed in Article 21 of the Constitution". The question whether right to privacy is a fundamental right and if it can be invoked to challenge Aadhaar was decided by the nine-judge bench, which left the adjudication of the validity of Aadhaar to a five-judge bench.