CENTRE TELLS SC IT CAN EXTEND DEADLINE FOR AADHAAR LINKING

NEWDELHI: A five-judge constitution bench will assemble next week to hear applications challenging various government orders that fix a deadline and make it mandatory to link the Aadhaar with various schemes and services, Chief Justice Dipak Misra said on Thursday.

He assured lawyers for petitioners the bench would be constituted, when they mentioned the matter before him demanding an early hearing. Next week is the last working week for the top court before it shuts down for the 15-day winter vacation.

The CJI agreed to hear the pleas despite Attorney General KK Venugopal saying the government was willing to extend the deadline to link Aadhaar with bank accounts, which ends on December 31, 2017.

However, the same would not be done for mobile phone connections for which the deadline is February 6, 2018. As of now there is no stay order, which means various agencies can insist for the 12-digit biometric identification number before providing a service or subsidy under a welfare scheme.

The bench was not told whether the extension would be for all, including those who have Aadhaar accounts. Earlier, the government had taken a stand that the relief would be only for those who do not already have the unique identity number. Then, on October 30, it had said the deadline will not be extended at all.

Since the AG was silent on this, senior advocate Shyam Divan, lawyer for the petitioners who have opposed Aadhaar scheme, told the court the Centre should give an undertaking that no coercive steps would be taken against those who choose not to part with Aadhaar details. He maintained the government’s undertaking was conditional and insisted for a hearing next week, a plea the court accepted.