Since last few weeks, we all had witnessed the aggressiveness with which banks have been ‘asking’ (or rather ordering?) their customers to link their bank accounts with Aadhaar before December 31st.
This, despite the fact that Supreme Court is still hearing petitions related to the legal status of such Aadhaar linking, and the matter is subjudice.
It was clear that banks were under pressure from Govt. to do so, but finally, Govt. had to bite the bullet.
Deadline for Aadhaar-bank account linking has been extended to March 31st, and this extension covers linking of all types of financial instruments like bank accounts, PAN cards etc.
Besides, we will share 6 important Aadhaar related deadlines which everyone should be aware of. We cannot guarantee that these deadlines will be extended or not, but as of now, these are the dates.
Banking Laws Altered To Extend Aadhaar-Bank A/c Linking Deadline!
In a twist of events, Finance Ministry altered some rules under Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002, to extend the deadline of Aadhaar-Bank A/c linking, and this signifies so many things – To start with, Govt. has acknowledged that public at large will be inconvenienced due to this short deadline.
In the notification last evening, Finance Ministry said
“After considering various representations received in this regard and inputs received from banks, it has been decided to notify March 31, 2018, or six months from the date of commencement of account-based relationship by the clients, whichever is later, as the date of submission of the Aadhaar number and Permanent Account Number or Form 60 by the clients to the reporting entity.”
The notification also stated that in case account holder is not able to link their Aadhaar with their respective bank accounts by this deadline, then “account shall cease to be operational till the time the Aadhaar Number and Permanent Account Number is submitted by the client.”
Earlier, various associations of bank employees had requested Govt. to extend the deadline, as it was not feasible for them to link crores of bank account in such a short time.
Supreme Court has already questioned about Govt.’s compulsion and obsession for linking everything with Aadhaar; and fresh hearings will start from today. Earlier, RBI had said that linking Aadhaar with bank accounts is not mandatory.
6 Aadhaar Deadlines You Should Be Aware Of
With fast changing deadlines, and rules, it is very tough to keep up with all the dates, especially when it comes to important services and accounts.
Here are 6 deadlines which will make it easier for you to remember, and act:
- Deadline to link SIM with Aadhaar: 26th February, 2018
- Deadline to link Insurance policies, Mutual funds with Aadhaar: 31st December, 2017
- Deadline to link social security services & Welfare schemes with Aadhaar: 31st December, 2017
- Deadline to link Public Provident Fund (PPF) with Aadhaar: 31st December, 2017
- Deadline to link bank accounts, PAN Card with Aadhaar: 31st March, 2018
- For opening new bank accounts and for transactions above Rs 50,000, you need to produce Aadhaar right now