Aadhaar linking with bank accounts: SC directs govt to tell banks to mention deadline date in SMS

The Supreme Court on Friday directed government to tell banks that messages sent to customers for linking Aadhaar to bank account should indicate customers have time till December 31.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had earlier announced that the linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts is mandatory.

The government in June had made Aadhaar mandatory for opening bank accounts as well as for any financial transaction of Rs 50,000 and above.

Existing bank account holders have been asked to furnish the Aadhaar number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) by December 31, 2017, failing which the account will cease to be operational, the government notification had said.

The government in Budget 2017 had already mandated seeding of Aadhaar number with Permanent Account Number to avoid individuals using multiple PANs to evade taxes.