In the hearing held on Tuesday, March 13, 2018, Honorable Supreme Court has extended the deadline date for mandatory linking of Aadhaar number with mobile phones and bank accounts. Yes, it is no more the March 31.
The SC said that its interim order on not insisting Aadhaar, except for giving subsidy, will remain in force till the five-judge bench gives its judgment on petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar.
In the issued interim order, The Supreme Court has said that this interim order will remain in force till the judgment on petitions challenging the usability and constitutional validity of Aadhaar comes. We all know that the five judge bench is hearing over those petitions. Court has stated in the recent order that government can ask for Aadhaar only for giving subsidy and government need to wait for all other initiatives in this regard. Even for issuing a Tatkal passport, mandatory Aadhaar is not a good idea until the judgment of that five judge bench.
In the regard of those petitions, constitution bench of five judges, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had already said that their judgment before March 31 is not feasible. In the recent statement on March 7, this five judge bench stated that it may not be possible to decide over such a big batch of petitions in such a short period.
The bench, which also comprised justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, had earlier said that since
Five judges bench comprised of justices Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A K Sikri, D Y Chandrachud, A M Khanwilkar and Ashok Bhushan. This bench will give judgment on petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar.
Today, the Supreme Court has asked government to wait for their decision. This matter would have implications over banks and stock exchange. Perhaps, it would create problem of compliance too.  Last year also, SC had extended the deadline for linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts and cell phones.
Earlier also, the top court had asked government to first look for the alleged defects in biometric details of citizens. In the hearing of February 22, Former Karnataka high court judge Justice KS Puttaswamy had told the apex court that government should be asked for granting compensation to people as various deaths had reportedly happened due to glitches in the Aadhaar-based public distribution system. In other petitions, various renowned social welfare groups have even raised question over the collection of biometric data, without any law for it.
Thus, The Supreme Court has said that recent interim order will remain in force till the judgment of that five judge’s bench on petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar comes.