indo-asian news service
New Delhi, Dec 15: The Supreme Court Friday extended the deadline for linking of Aadhaar to various government schemes, mobile numbers and bank accounts, from December 31, 2017, to March 31, 2018.
However, the Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said those who do not have an Aadhaar number but were opening bank accounts would have to furnish their enrolment number for the unique ID.
The interim order would be subject to the final outcome of the batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act on the grounds of it violating the fundamental right to privacy.
Having directed the extension of deadline till March 31, 2018 for the linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts and mobile phones, the court further directed that the extension shall apply to the schemes framed by all the central ministries and departments, including by the state governments.
On the linking of the Aadhaar number with the Permanent Account Number (PAN) under Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, 2017, the court said the same would continue to be governed by the June 9 judgment of the top court.
The court had said that those who already possess the Aadhaar number will have to link it with PAN, but it cannot be insisted upon in case of people not possessing it.
Upholding the validity of provision mandating the linking Aadhaar with PAN on the scales of Article 14 and Article 19, the top court June 9 had said: “The validity of the provision upheld in the aforesaid manner is subject to passing the muster of Article 21 of the Constitution, which is the issue before the Constitution Bench…”
The top court’s direction extending the interim relief granted earlier came on a batch of petitions contending that Aadhaar could only be insisted upon for availing benefits under six schemes as permitted by the top court by its August 11 and October 15, 2015 order. The top court’s order extending the deadline came on a batch of petitions by the former Karnataka High Court Judge Justice K.S. Puttuswamy, Magsaysay awardee Shanta Sinha, feminist researcher Kalyani Sen Menon and others.
ECI supremacy reaffirmed
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday declined to entertain a petition filed by the Pradesh Congress Committee in Gujarat seeking a direction to the Election Commission of India to count and cross verify at least 25 per cent of the VVPAT (Voters Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) with the EVM (Electronic Voting Machines) votes registered in the assembly polls to that state. The votes are to be counted December 18 in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra dismissed the plea finding no merit in it. While refusing to entertain the petition, the apex court observed, it cannot interfere with exercise of power by the Election Commission. “Electoral process in a democracy is of utmost importance and it can’t interfere only to allay apprehension of a party,” the bench held in its order.
