The Supreme Court of India has served notices on cell-phone providers and the Centre to respond on the topic of linking Aadhaar numbers of consumers with their respective mobile numbers.

The Centre announced some time back that it was mandatory to link Aadhaar numbers with cell-phone connections to continue to receive service from the firms. Cellphone firms have been literally torturing people by asking them on a daily basis to link their Aadhaar numbers with their respective cellphone numbers so as to ensure continuous service from them.

Centre ‘gave’ time till 31st March next year to link Aadhaar numbers with cellphone connections. In the meantime, West Bengal chief-minister Mamata Banerjee objected to the proposal and said she would never do so, even if it meant losing her cellphone connection. She said it was nothing but a breach of individual liberty to ask people to link their Aadhaar numbers with their cellphone connections.

After she moved the Supreme Court on the issue, she was told that under Article 32 of the Constitution, a chief-minister can’t challenge an Act passed by Parliament. “She can challenge the Act as an individual and not as a chief-minister,” the apex Court observed while serving notices to the Centre and the cellphone service providers to respond within four weeks on the issue of linking Aadhaar numbers of customers with their respective cellophone connections.