Aadhaar-mobile number linkage must by Feburary 6, says Centre

New Delhi: The Centre has told the Supreme Court that all mobile phone subscribers had to mandatorily link their numbers with their Aadhaar by February 6 under the 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 deadline for mobile numbers and Aadhaar card linking cannot be done unilaterally since it was fixed by the Supreme Court, said the Centre.

Recently, a nine-judge constitution bench of the apex court had held that Right to Privacy was a Fundamental Right under the Constitution. Several petitioners challenging the validity of Aadhaar had claimed it violated privacy rights.

The Centre had on October 25 told the Supreme Court that the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to receive the benefits of government schemes has been extended till March 31, 2018 for those who do not have the 12-digit unique biometric identification number and were willing to enroll for it.

Some petitioners in the top court have termed the linking of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) number with bank accounts and mobile numbers as "illegal and unconstitutional".

One of the counsel representing the petitioners had earlier said that final hearing in the main Aadhaar matter, which is pending before the apex court, was necessary as the government "cannot compel" citizens to link their Aadhaar with either bank accounts or cell phone numbers.