Above: Mamata Banerjee (file picture). Photo: UNI

In another rebellious move, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has dragged the Centre to the Supreme Court over rules making Aadhaar mandatory for financial transactions. Her case is expected to come up for hearing on Monday, October 30. The government has made Aadhaar card necessary for opening bank accounts and for financial transactions above Rs. 50,000.

Banerjee, earlier this week, had announced in a meeting of Trinamool Congress that she will not connect her mobile number with Aadhaar. “I will not link Aadhaar with my phone, if they want to disconnect my phone, let them,” she had said. All the mobile phone users have been getting messages from their telecom operators to link their Aadhaar number with their mobile numbers. Despite the deadline being February, the telecom companies are bombarding customers with messages to do the linking.

There are already several cases pending in the apex court on the matter of mandatory linking of Aadhaar number with bank accounts and mobile number. On October 25, CPI leader Binoy Viswam had also approached the Supreme Court challenging Section 139 AA of the Income Tax that makes Aadhaar mandatory for filing Income Tax Returns.

—India Legal Bureau