The central government on March 6 told the Supreme Court that if required it might consider extending the March 31 deadline for linking Aadhaar to various government schemes as well as mobile phones and bank accounts.
Attorney General KK Venugopal told the five-judge constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan that the Centre had extended the deadline in the past too and it can do so again.
“We have extended the deadline in the past and we will extend the deadline again but we may do it by the end of the month to enable the petitioners in the case to conclude the arguments,” Venugopal said.
Last year on December 15, the Supreme Court had directed the extension of deadline till March 31 for the linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts and mobile phones.
The petitioners said the deadline was nearing and the cases against Aadhar were unlikely to be decided by March 31.
