New Delhi, December 14: Centre on Thursday tells Supreme Court that the deadline for linking Aadhaar with all schemes and services, including bank accounts, has been extended to March 31.
Attorney General K K Venugopal informed the Supreme Court that the government was willing to postpone the stipulated date for linking the 12-digit biometric identifier with various services, from government welfare schemes, mobile numbers and financial dealings.
However, Centre said Aadhaar or application for enrolling for Aadhaar will continue to be mandatory for opening new bank accounts.
This comes a day after the government extended by three months the deadline for mandatory quoting of Aadhaar and Permanent Account Number (PAN) for bank accounts and certain financial transactions. The deadline for existing bank account holders to furnish Aadhaar was initially December 31, 2017.
The Supreme Court was listening to a bunch of pleas seeking an interim stay on the Centre’s decision directing mandatory linking of Aadhaar with various government schemes and welfare measures.
