The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) not to make Aadhaar number mandatory for enrolment of students appearing in NEET 2018 and other all-India examinations. A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by chief justice Dipak Misra, directed the CBSE to accept alternative identification documents such as passport, driving licence, bank account, ration card, etc for the purpose and upload the information on its website so as to avoid any inconvenience to students. The apex court also hinted at extending the March 31 deadline for linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts and mobile phone numbers. While assuring the petitioners that the deadline will be extended to avoid any confusion at the last moment, Justice Chandrachud said: “There is an issue. We are nearing the end of financial year. There is uncertainty in banks, stock exchanges and financial markets because of the deadline. They need time to enforce it.” The current deadline is less than a month away and the aadhaar case is unlikely to be decided before that. Earlier in the day, the Unique Identification Authority of India told the bench that it has not authorised the CBSE to mandatorily take Aadhaar number of students to get themselves enrolled for appearing in the NEET 2018 examination. Attorney general KK Venugopal said he has instructions from the UIDAI that like in Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya and Assam, other identity proofs such as passport, voter card and ration card can be used by the CBSE for enrolling students in the examination.