The Supreme Court is set to pronounce its interim order this morning on mandatory linking of Aadhaar with various welfare schemes. The Court yesterday reserved its interim order on a batch of pleas seeking a stay on the government's decision on the issue. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice<br/><br/><br/>Dipak Misra said, the final hearing on the petitions challenging the Aadhaar scheme itself will commence from January 17 next year.<br/><br/>Attorney General K K Venugopal, representing the Centre, said, the government was willing to extend the deadline up to March 31 next year for mandatory linking of the national biometric identifier to avail the benefit of various services and welfare measures. He, however, told the bench that the Aadhaar should be allowed to remain mandatory for opening of new bank accounts.<br/>The government on Wednesday issued a notification to extend till March 31 the deadline for mandatory quoting of Aadhaar and Permanent Account Number (PAN) for bank accounts and certain financial transactions. However, there is no word on extending the February 6, 2018 deadline for linking mobile SIM cards with Aadhaar.<br/><br/>