Aadhaar for social welfare schemes extended till Dec 31

The Union government will extend the September 30 deadline by three months for people to declare their Aadhaar numbers in order to continue receiving welfare benefits, its lawyers told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

During the arguments, the top court said it will begin hearing petitions against the Aadhaar programme in the first week of November after the petitioners appealed for an early hearing. The court said that since the government had extended the deadline, the matter will be set for hearing next month.

Aadhaar has been challenged in courts on the grounds that it infringes on rights to privacy. The issue led to a larger debate, which was settled last week when a constitutional bench of the top court said that privacy was a fundamental right. That decision could have a bearing on the petitions against Aadhaar.

Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal, the Centre’s representative, said the government will now shift the Aadhaar declaration deadline to December 31 for social services such as free cooking gas cylinders that women from poor families are entitled to.

Earlier, senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing various petitioners, mentioned the matter before the bench and sought early hearing on the batch of petitions that have challenged Centre’s move to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing benefits of various social welfare schemes. When Divan referred to the deadline of September 30, Venugopal said, “We (Centre) will extend it to December 31”.

“The urgency is not there. It will be listed in the first week of November,” the bench said.

It was not immediately clear if an extension will also be given for the August 31 deadline for people to link their Aadhaar numbers with their PAN.