The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to pass any order on the plea against making Aadhaar compulsory for accessing government schemes, ANI reported. However, the top court said those without Aadhaar cards could not be deprived of any government schemes or benefits till the next hearing in the case.
“No interim order can be passed in mandamus on mere apprehensions. You have to wait for one week. If somebody is deprived of the benefits you can point out the same to this court,” the bench told counsel for the petitioners Shyam Divan and posted the matter for further hearing on July 7, according to The Indian Express.
During Tuesday’s hearing, the Centre had informed the Supreme Court that the last date has been extended up to September 30, 2017 for those without Aadhaar who wish to avail of government schemes.
Earlier, the Centre had made Aadhaar compulsory from July 1 for filing income tax-returns. For this, it said that the Aadhaar and Permanent Account Number must be linked, a decision that was upheld by the Supreme Court on June 9.
The Narendra Modi government also made it mandatory for bank account holders to link their accounts to Aadhaar. On June 16, the Centre announced that Aadhaar would also be compulsory for those who want open new bank accounts, and for transactions above Rs 50,000.
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