The government on December 13 extended the December 31 deadline for linking bank accounts to Aadhaar numbers by three months to March 31, 2018. The notification came even as the Supreme Court decided to begin hearings on petitions challenging the validity of the Aadhaar scheme from Thursday.
A senior government official told The Hindu that the deadline for linking insurance policies and mutual fund holdings to Aadhaar will also be extended to March 31, 2018, from the present December 31 deadline.
“A notification to this effect will be issued soon by the Department of Financial Services under the Finance Ministry,” the official said.
PMLA rules amended
The revenue department in the ministry has amended the relevant rules pertaining to maintenance of records by financial entities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002, to drop the December 31 deadline specified for bank account–holders to link Aadhaar and PAN (permanent account number) cards.
As per the notification issued on December 12, account-holders will need to “submit the Aadhaar number, and Permanent Account Number or Form No. 60, by such date as may be notified by the Central Government”.
The notification also states that if Aadhaar is not linked to bank accounts as per the date notified by the government, the account would be blocked till the submission of Aadhaar and PAN numbers.
Leeway
The Finance Ministry issued a press release on December 13 afternoon that it has been decided to notify “March 31, 2018 or six months from the date of commencement of account based relationship by the client, whichever is later,” as the new deadline.
The decision to extend the deadline was taken after various representations as well as inputs received from banks on the matter, the Ministry said.
Last week, the government had submitted before the Supreme Court that it intends to issue a notification extending the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar with services from December 31 to March 31, 2018. The deadline for linking Aadhaar to mobile numbers, however, remains February 6, 2018.
The revenue department notification said, “In case the client already having an account-based relationship with reporting entities prior to the date of publication of this notification in the official Gazette fails to submit the Aadhaar number and Permanent Account Number by such date as may be notified by the Central Government, the said account shall cease to be operational till the time the Aadhaar Number and Permanent Account Number is submitted by the client.”
