Here is a small relief for all of them who have not yet connected their services like the bank account, phone number and other details. The Supreme Court has extended the deadline of March 31st for the linking of various services with Aadhaar till it delivers its judgement on its constitutional validity of this biometrical identification scheme.

Aadhaar Number is a 12-digit random number issued by UIDAI or Unique Identification Authority of India to the residents of India after satisfying the verification process. This is mentioned on the official website of UIDAI – uidai.gov.in. For now, only the linking of Aadhar linking for mobile phones and bank accounts have been extended indefinitely.

Earlier, the deadline was set for December 31, 2017, to link the Aadhaar with several financial services and welfare schemes. However, just before 15 days, ie., on December 15th last year, the apex court had directed the extension of deadline till March 31 for the linking of Aadhaar with mobile phones and the bank accounts.

In an important development in the last week, the government had hinted at the Aadhaar linking deadline which was first mentioned as March 31 might be extended if required. As expected, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal told the Constitution Bench after hearing the petitions filed the mandatory linking of Aadhaar – that the centre had given permission for extension of the deadline which was done in the past and also done again.

And today, announcing the order, a five-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said that the extension will not affect the linking of Aadhaar with the disbursal of benefits under various social welfare schemes. The apex court added that this interim order will remain until the further verdict.

This development is a major relief for those who haven’t linked their Aadhaar card to their services yet.

India launched Aadhaar, the world’s biggest biometric database in 2009 to restructure welfare payments.