Deadline for linking Aadhaar with bank and mobile extended to 31-03-2017. Supreme Court directs extension for both Union Government and State Schemes.
Case Law Citation:
ABCAUS 2147 (2017) (11) SC
The primary submission of the petitioners was that in terms of the interim order of the Constitution Bench:
(i) Aadhaar Cards could permissibly be utilized only for six schemes (two of them provided for in the order dated 11 August 2015 and four in the order dated 15 October 2015);
(ii) the Union Government was directed to strictly follow the earlier orders of this Court commencing from 23 September 2013; and
(iii) the Aadhaar card scheme was to be purely voluntary and could not be made mandatory until the matter is finally decided by this Court.
On behalf of the petitioners, among others, Mr Gopal Subramanium, Mr Arvind Datar, Mr KTS Tulsi, Mr Anand Grover, Mr KV Viswanathan, Ms Minakshi Arora and Mr Sanjay Hegde, senior counsels presented the case while on the other hand, Mr K K Venugopal, the Attorney General for India presented the case of the Government.
Senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners and also the Attorney General for India agreed to the suggestion of the Supreme Court that the final hearing of the case be commenced on 17 January 2018.
The following are the statement(s) made by the Attorney General for India and the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court with respect to each of them:
Statement by Attorney General for India | Directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court |
(i) The Union government has extended the deadline for Aadhaar linkage with all schemes of its Ministries/Departments until 31 March 2018; | Accepted and order accordingly. |
(ii) As far as Aadhaar linkage with bank accounts is concerned, for existing bank accounts, the last date for the completion of the process may be extended to 31 March 2018; | Accepted and order accordingly |
(iii) In so far as new bank accounts are concerned, while the last date for completing the process of Aadhaar linking may be extended until 31 March 2018, persons desirous to open new accounts shall produce proof to the bank of an application having been submitted for obtaining an Aadhaar card together with the application number which shall be supplied to the account opening bank; and | Subject to the submission of the details in regard to the filing of an application for an Aadhaar card and the furnishing of the application number to the account opening bank, the last date for the completion of the process of Aadhaar linking of new bank accounts is also extended to 31 March 2018. |
(iv) As regards Aadhaar based E-KYC for mobile phone subscribers, as held by a Bench of two learned Judges of this Court by its order dated 6 February 2017 in Lokniti Foundation v Union of India and Another , the process of completing the E-KYC process is to be completed by 6 February 2018. The Union government informs the Court, that consistent with the extension of the deadline to 31 March 2018 in other cases, this Court may consider passing appropriate orders. | The date for the completion of the E-KYC process in respect of mobile phone subscribers is extended until 31 March 2018. |
The Hon’ble Court also directed that the extension of the last date for Aaadhar linkage to 31 March 2018 shall apply, besides the schemes of the Ministries/Departments of the Union government to all state governments in similar terms.
The Hon’ble Apex Court also clarified that in so far as the provisions of Section 139 AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 are concerned, the matter stands governed by its judgment in Binoy Visman v Union of India .
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