Willing to extend deadline for Aadhaar linking to services till March 31: Centre to SC

Willing to extend deadline for Aadhaar linking to services till March 31: Centre to SC

New Delhi: The Centre is willing to extend the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to various services till March 31, 2018, it told the Supreme Court on Monday.

“We are willing to extend the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to various services till March 31 next year,” the Centre told the apex court.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is likely to set up a Constitution bench next week to hear the issue of stay against mandatory linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts, mobile phone numbers etc.

The matter was mentioned before a bench headed by chief justice Dipak Misra who said that the court would take it up in the week to come.

Also, the apex court said that it would hear a batch of petitions challenging mandatory linking of Aadhaar for granting various services to citizen after its constitution bench concludes hearing the Delhi-Centre dispute.

The government has made Aadhaar card mandatory for carrying out a number of tasks. These include linking bank accounts and mobile phone number. You are also required to link your 12-digit unique identification number Aadhaar to mutual fund holdings, insurance policy, PPF and small savings schemes such as Kisan Vikas Patra.

Recently, the government has made Aadhaar number mandatory for obtaining benefits under the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY) pension scheme. The scheme is meant for senior citizens, which is implemented through Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC).

Here are the important deadlines you should not miss:

Deadline for linking Aadhaar card with PPF, NSC: December 31, 2017

The government has made Aadhaar mandatory for opening a Post Office account or investing in small savings schemes such as National Savings Certificate (NSC), PPF and Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP), Aadhaar is a must.

Existing depositors who have not provided Aadhaar number at the time of application for such deposit “shall submit his Aadhaar number to the post office savings bank or deposit office concerned, on or before December 31, 2017,” said government notification.

Deadline to link Aadhaar with PAN: December 31, 2017

The government has extended the deadline for linking PAN with biometric identifier Aadhaar by four months to December 31. The deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar for taxpayers was to end on August 31. The deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar previously was July 31 but was extended to August 31.

“Aadhaar was to be linked with PAN by 31st August 2017. The date for linking Aadhaar with PAN has been extended till 31st December 2017,” the CBDT, the apex policymaking body of the Income Tax Department, noted. An Aadhaar PAN link is mandatory for processing of income tax returns (ITRs) for the assessment year 2017-18.

Deadline to link Aadhaar with mobile SIM: 6 February 2018

The Aadhaar-Mobile SIM linking should be completed by February 6, under e-KYC verification, the Centre told the Supreme Court. The Centre also mandated production of 12-digit unique Aadhaar number for opening new bank accounts.

While citing an order passed by the apex court, the Centre said that it was the SC which had approved the rule for mandatory Aadhaar-mobile number linkage in the Lokniti Foundation case on February 6, 2017, while giving a window of one year.

Deadline to submit Aadhaar details to banks/financial institutions – December 31, 2017

The government has made it mandatory for all banks and financial institutions to mention the Aadhaar details of clients in the KYC (Know your Customer) document. If you fail to link it to your bank account by December 31 this year, it may even become inoperable.

Know your customer (KYC) is the process of a business identifying and verifying the identity of its clients and a KYC document basically provides all the details that authenticate the identity of a customer.

Deadline to link mutual fund investments to Aadhaar: December 31, 2017

The government has been made mandatory for mutual fund houses to obtain their customers’ Aadhaar numbers and link the same to their respective accounts.

The move came after a recent amendment in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Rules, 2017.

By linking mutual fund investment with Aadhaar, one authorizes the agent for seeding one’s Aadhaar number to the MF schemes.

“As per recent amendments to Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Rules, 2017, Financial Institutions like Mutual Funds are mandated to obtain Aadhaar Number from their customers and link the same to the respective accounts,” the website stated.

The deadline to link mutual fund investments to Aadhaar is December 31.

Deadline to give Aadhaar details to avail social security schemes – December 31, 2017

Aadhaar number has to be provided for all social security schemes by December 31, 2017. In order to avail pension, LPG cylinders or government scholarships, one must provide his or her Aadhaar card details.

Recently, amidst a tug of war between the central government and its critics over the validity and omnipresence of the Aadhaar program, UIDAI has revealed that more than 200 central and state government websites publicly displayed details such as names and addresses of some Aadhaar beneficiaries.