The Government of India has extended the deadline to link Aadhaar with welfare schemes to 31 December 2017. The original deadline is on 30 September 2017. The deadline to link Aadhaar and welfare schemes has been extended after various pleas for the same.
The decision is also taken in view of pending pleas challenging the validity of Aadhaar on the grounds of violation of right to privacy and recent verdict of Supreme Court on the issue.
The beneficiaries of all the welfare schemes have to link their Aadhaar numbers with the schemes. The Supreme Court has recently declared that the privacy is fundamental right of all the citizens of India.
The Supreme Court also find the task of making Aadhaar mandatory after the nine judge bench judgement on right to privacy. In its previous judgement, the SC has upheld the amendment to Income Tax Act, making it mandatory for linking of Aadhaar with PAN card .