Clearing off the air about linking of bank accounts with Aadhaar, RBI has clarified that account holders will have to compulsorily link their bank accounts with Aadhaar by December 31st, 2017 after which those accounts that are not linked with Aadhaar will cease to function. In order to continue receiving the benefits of social welfare schemes directly in their bank accounts, the government has made it mandatory to link Aadhaar with bank accounts of beneficiaries.
RBI mentioned, “in applicable cases, linkage of Aadhaar number to bank account is mandatory under the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017 published in the Official Gazette on June 1, 2017.” and it is of prime importance that “statutory force and, as such, banks have to implement them without awaiting further instructions”.
This directive has come ahead of the Supreme Court’s hearing on a number of pleas filed challenging the credibility of Aadhaar and its interference with the Right to Privacy of citizens. Now that the clarification has come from the apex banking body, people who were waiting for an update are expected to get their accounts linked with Aadhaar.
As per statistics and media reports, there are more than 1.5 billion bank accounts in India. People have been provided the window to get their accounts linked with Aadhaar till the end of this year. Aadhaar has also been made mandatory for financial transactions above Rs 50,000 and mutual fund investments.
