Aadhaar-Mobile Number Linking Must by February 6, Says Centre

New Delhi, Nov 3: The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the linking of Aadhaar card with mobile numbers must be done by February 6, 2018, under E-KYC verification. While citing an order passed by the Supreme Court, the Centre said that it was the apex court which had approved the norm for mandatory Aadhaar-mobile number linkage in the Lokniti Foundation case on February 6, 2017, while giving a window of one year.

The Centre also told the Supreme Court that no death by starvation had taken place anywhere in India because of someone not having an Aadhaar card. The deadline for mobile numbers and Aadhaar card linking cannot be done unilaterally since it was fixed by the Supreme Court, said the Centre. The Centre added that it had extended the deadline for Aadhaar-bank account number linking till March 31. (Also

The Constitution bench on Monday sought the government’s response in next four weeks. It is expected to hear a bunch of petitions challenging the validity of Aadhaar.

“Until March 31, existing bank accounts will not be made non-operational for not linking with Aadhaar. But as far as opening new bank accounts are concerned, Aadhaar or enrolment ID must be given as proof of identity. For existing account holders, the deadline for Aadhaar based verification is being extended to March 31 and no coercive action will be taken till then,” the Centre stated in a fresh affidavit. (Also

The Centre said that the Supreme Court had earlier validated the Centre’s decision for mandatory linking of Aadhaar with PAN card. The apex court had also given a relief to those who do not have an Aadhaar number for the current financial year.

“There has not been a single instance of hacking or data breach in or from UIDAI or any of its servers,” the Centre said citing the recent cyber attacks.