Supreme Court refuses interim stay on linking Aadhaar to government schemes

The SC refused to issue a stay on linking Aadhaar to government schemes but extended the deadline of linking it to mobile phone numbers to March 31, 2018.

New Delhi, Dec 15: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to issue a stay on linking Aadhaar to government schemes but extended the deadline of linking Aadhaar with mobile phone numbers to March 31, 2018. The government had on Thursday told the Supreme Court it had extended the deadline for all schemes to March 31, except that of mobile phones as it was pertaining to a different case. For the government to extend the mobile phone deadline, the apex court had to pass a separate judicial order. As of now, Aadhaar linking to government schemes and other services have been extended to March 31, 2018. The earlier deadline was February 6, 2018.

The top court was hearing petitions seeking interim relief on the government’s move to mandatorily link Aadhaar with government schemes. The petitioners had challenged the Constitutional validity of making Aadhaar mandatory to avail benefits. A five-judge Constitutional bench, headed by CJI Dipak Misra and comprising Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, had reserved its order on Thursday.

The petitioners had told the court that government notifications had the effect of making Aadhaar mandatory, despite Section 7 saying that the Central or State Government “may…require” Aadhaar from persons receiving subsidy, benefit or service for which the expenditure is incurred from, or the receipt therefrom forms part of, the Consolidated Fund of India.

The apex court has fixed January 17, 2018, as the date for the final hearing of the main petitions challenging the Aadhaar Act.

A nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court, had in August ruled that privacy is a fundamental right, subject to reasonable restrictions. It had observed, “The right to privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and as a part of the freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution.”