-PTI The deadline for linking bank accounts and mobile phone numbers with 12-digit biometric identifier Aadhaar has already been extended indefinitely. The government on March 28 extended by three months the deadline of March 31 for linking Aadhaar with welfare schemes, where benefits are transferred to citizens from the Consolidated Fund of India. The deadline now stands extended to June 30, 2018, according to an office memorandum of the Ministry of Electronics and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday refused to further extend the March 31 deadline for linking of Aadhaar with government schemes and benefits. This comes days after the SC ordered an indefinite extension to the March 31 deadline for mandatory linking of the biometric identifier with bank accounts and mobile phones. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said: "We will not pass any...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Aadhaar is blind to the purpose of authentication as it only establishes identity and nothing more, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey told the Supreme Court on Thursday, countering apprehensions that Aadhaar would result in “virtual surveillance” of citizens. In the course of a Power-Point presentation, Pandey said Aadhaar was a tool to establish identity and was not an aggregator of...

-The Hindu Chief Justice Misra asks why people preferring anonymity are also compelled to part with their personal data to access services. The government has assured the Supreme Court that Aadhaar is not a “fly-by-night effort to score some brownie points” and personal data collected from millions of people is safe from breach in storage facilities barricaded behind five-feet thick walls. Appearing before a Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court directs that public servants can only be arrested with the written permission of their appointing authority. The anti-atrocities law, which protects Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from casteist slurs and discrimination, has become an instrument to “blackmail” innocent citizens and public servants, the Supreme Court observed in a judgment on Tuesday. Issuing a slew of guidelines to protect public servants and private employees from arbitrary arrests under the...