Aadhaar deadline to be extended till Dec 31: Govt

The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that they would extend till December 31 the deadline to furnish A ad ha ar for availing of the benefits of various social welfare schemes. Attorney G en eralKKVenug opal made the submission—extension of current deadline of September30—before a Bench headed by Chief Justice Di pa kM is ra.

The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that they would extend till December 31, the deadline to furnish Aadhaar for availing the benefits of various social welfare schemes.

Attorney General K K Venugopal made the submission that the current deadline of September 30 has been shifted to December-end after some of the petitioners, who have challenged the government’s move to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing the benefits of these schemes, mentioned the matter before the court.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for petitioners, told the apex court that a nine-judge constitution bench had recently declared right to privacy a fundamental right and now a batch of Aadhaar related petitions should be taken up for hearing by an appropriate bench.

When he referred to the September 30 deadline to give Aadhaar for availing these benefits, the Attorney General said the government would extend it to December 31.

“We (Centre) have said we will extend it to December 31,” Venugopal told the bench which also comprised Justices Amitava Roy and A M Khanwilkar.

The bench thereafter said that the batch of petitions on the Aadhaar issue would be taken up for hearing in the first week of November.

“Urgency is not there. The Attorney General is saying that it will be extended. It (petitions) will be listed in the first week of November,” the bench said.

Divan referred to the privacy judgment penned by Justice R F Nariman’s separate but concurring verdict and contended that the judge had said that matters relating to Aadhaar be sent back for adjudication on merits by a bench of three judges.