Supreme Court to hear West Bengal government's plea on Aadhaar on October 30

The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government has challenged the Centre's move to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing the benefits of various social welfare schemes in the Supreme Court, which has listed it for hearing on Monday

The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government has challenged the Centre's move to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing the benefits of various social welfare schemes in the Supreme Court, which has listed it for hearing on Monday.

The plea is listed for hearing before a bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan. Senior advocate and member of parliament Kalyan Banerjee said the petition was filed earlier and would come up for hearing before the bench on October 30. He said the West Bengal government has challenged the provision which says that without Aadhaar, the benefits of social welfare schemes would not be extended.

At a party meeting in Kolkata on Wednesday, the Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief had also opposed the linking of Aadhaar with mobile phone number, saying "Aadhaar number should not be linked with one's mobile phone. I will not link my Aadhaar number with my mobile even if my connection is snapped."

However, the Aadhaar-mobile issue is not part of the state government's plea, Kalyan Banerjee said. On the same day, the Centre had told the top court that the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to avail benefits of various government schemes has been extended till March 31 next year for those who do not have the 12-digit biometric identification number.

Attorney General K K Venugopal had told a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that the deadline extension from December end till March 31, 2018, would apply only to those who do not have Aadhaar and are willing to enrol for it.

When Venugopal had said he would take instructions on certain issues on Aadhaar, after which the court had asked him to mention the matter again on October 30.

Several petitions, challenging the Centre's move to make Aadhaar mandatory for welfare schemes and notifications to link it with mobile numbers and bank accounts, are pending in the apex court.

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