The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the linking of mobile connections and bank accounts to Aadhaar and directed telcos and banks to specify the deadlines to their customers.
Hearing a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act amidst allegations that it infringes upon the Right to Privacy, the apex court said all Aadhaar-related pleas would be taken up for final hearing by SC’s constitution bench in the last week of November.
The court further observed that telecom service providers should inform customers that the last date to link Aadhaar with mobile numbers is February 6, 2018.
Furthermore, the banks too will have to indicate in messages sent to customers that December 31 is the last date to link Aadhaar with accounts.
“Don’t create panic and don’t bombard people with text messages,” the court said.
On October 30, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had said that a Constitution bench would be constituted and Aadhaar-related matters would come up for hearing before it in the last week of November.
Several petitions challenging the Centre’s move to make Aadhaar card mandatory for availing various services and benefits of government welfare schemes have been filed in the apex court.
Recently, a nine-judge constitution bench of the apex court had held that Right to Privacy was a Fundamental Right under the Constitution.
Several petitioners challenging the validity of Aadhaar had claimed it violated privacy rights.
The Centre had on October 25 told the Supreme Court that the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to receive the benefits of government schemes has been extended till March 31, 2018 for those who do not have the 12-digit unique biometric identification number and were willing to enroll for it.