Mamata Banerjee moves SC over Aadhaar-phone linkage

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday approached the Supreme Court to challenge the mandatory linking of Aadhaar numbers to mobile phones and bank accounts.

Banerjee's petition, filed in the apex court through senior advocate and Member of Parliament Kalyan Banerjee, is likely to be heard on October 30 before a bench comprising Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan.

On Wednesday, Banerjee had declared she would not link her mobile number to her Aadhaar number and asked her party members to follow suit.

"I will not link my phone number to Aadhaar at any cost. They may disconnect my phone if they want to. They may not even give me an Aadhaar number if they want to. I request all of you to do the same. Let us see how many phone numbers they disconnect," she told party leaders in an extended core committee meeting that day.

She claimed doing so would compromise individuals' privacy. "I will raise the issue at the Parliament. If need be, we will fight it legally. We didn't object linking Aadhaar with PAN because it was related to tax payment," she added.

Earlier this week, the Centre proposed extending the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts and mobile phones from December 31, 2017, to March 31, 2018, but only for those who are "willing to enrol for Aadhaar".

However, this extension would not apply to those who already have an Aadhaar card.

Highlighting the fact that the deadline was moved forward, Attorney General KK Venugopal had sought a delay in the hearing on matters pertaining to Aadhaar.