Supreme Court fails to specify date of order on Aadhaar linking deadline

Representational Image

The "uncertainty" over whether the deadline for linking of Aadhaar would be extended beyond March 31 drew the attention of the Supreme Court, which on Wednesday said it would pass an appropriate order in this regard since the matter would have a bearing on financial institutions across the country.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said that it might not be possible to decide by March 31 the batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act since the arguments in the matter would prolong. It, however, did not specify any date when it would pass the order.

The bench, which also comprised justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, said that since the matter would have implications on financial institutions, it would create a huge problem of compliance if the deadline was extended at the last moment. "If the court passes an interim order on March 27, then it will create huge problem of compliance for financial institutions," Justice Chandrachud said.

Senior advocate Arvind Datar said that the March 31 deadline needs to be extended, a contention which was also supported by another senior advocate K V Viswanathan saying that till the court decides the matter, Aadhaar can't be made mandatory.