An existing Aadhaar holder opening a new bank account will have to furnish his/her Aadhaar card to the bank, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra ordered on Friday. It extended the deadline for Aadhaar-bank linkage to March 31, 2018, but only for non-Aadhaar holders opening new bank accounts.
The non-Aadhaar holders have time till March 31 to enrol for Aadhaar and produce it before the bank authorities. During the interim, they can furnish their Aadhaar enrolment application.
This is an interim arrangement. The Bench scheduled the final hearing on 28 separate writ petitions challenging the very validity of the Aadhaar scheme for January 17, 2018.
The petitioners challenging Aadhaar argue that the scheme, which requires biometric and personal details, is a coercive step and a stark violation of the fundamental right to privacy. The danger, they argue, is all the greater because India does not have a regime to prevent or punish personal data leakage. Speaking for the petitioners, Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora said: “For 70 years the banking system has functioned without a hitch ... why impose Aadhaar now?”
Mobile phone linkage
Meanwhile, the Constitution Bench extended the deadline for mobile phone-Aadhaar linkage from February 6 to March 31, 2018. Aadhaar is a mandatory requirement for the e-KYC procedure in mobile phone connections.
The order also extended the deadline for Aadhaar linking to avail 139 services and subsidies under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act to March 31. The court directed that the extension of the deadline should be communicated to State governments so that people at the ground level are not denied basic welfare and subsidies for want of an Aadhaar card.
The various government agencies and ministries had issued 139 circulars over the past months mandating Aadhaar for availing or accessing welfare benefits, subsidies and services for which the funds were sourced from the Consolidated Fund of India.