KalingaTV News Network
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the deadline for Aadhaar linkages to various services including bank accounts and mobile phones until the constitution bench delivers judgement on the matter.
Currently, a five-judge Constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan is hearing the petitions challenging the Constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act.
On December 15 last year, the apex court had set March 31, 2018 as the deadline to link the 12-digit unique number with a range of services.
However, today’s order of the Supreme Court will not apply to the deadline for subsidies and benefits under Section 7 of Aadhaar Act, which relates to the targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services, the expenditure for which is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India.
The UPA Government launched Aadhaar, now the world’s biggest biometric database, in 2009 to streamline welfare payments and reduce wastage in public spending.
The Modi Government has been planning to make the Aadhaar link mandatory with driving licence, bank accounts, mobile phones, voter ID cards, booking railway tickets and among other things across the country.
Ms Kalinga