New Delhi: The Supreme Court has extended the deadline to link Aadhaar number to mobile phone numbers and bank accounts indefinitely. With this, those who haven’t linked their Aadhaar to any of the services including PAN can breathe easy.

The Apex Court also ruled that the government could continue to seek beneficiaries’ Aadhaar, the 12-digit national biometric identifier number, for the transfer of benefits under schemes funded from the consolidated fund of India.

However, according to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Aadhaar would still be required for opening new bank accounts or applying for Tatkal passports.

For now, one could safely ignore persistent messages from telecom service providers and banks to link one’s Aadhaar to one’s phone number and account.