A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said even judges are not spared from such messages, which the petitioners termed as part of coercion to link Aadhaar with bank accounts and mobile phones.

The bench ordered telcos and banks not to create panic among people and asked them to specify in the messages that the deadline for Aadhaar-bank account linkage is December 31 and February 6 for mobile phones.

The petitioners, challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar, alleged that customers were being bombarded with messages which threatened deactivation of bank accounts and mobile phone connections if they failed to link these with their UIDAI numbers.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan and Arvind Datar, appearing for the petitioners, sought an interim stay on such mandatory linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts and mobile phones through pressure tactics. When attorney general K K Venugopal opposed these arguments terming them as oral and off-the-cuff allegations, Justice Sikri said such messages should not be sent without mentioning the deadline. “I do not want to say in the presence of media but I am also receiving such messages,“ he said in a lighter vein.

“We make it clear that in the messages sent by banks and telecom service providers, the date of December 31, 2017 and February 6, 2018 shall also be indicated as the last date of linking Aadhaar with bank accounts and mobile numbers [respectively],“ the bench ordered while refusing to stay the rules under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act mandating Aadhaar-bank account linkage and a telecom department circular making Aadhaar the new eKYC for mobile phones.

The petitioners insisted that the Centre's decision to frame rules to prosecute people for not linking their account number with Aadhaar was illegal as it could not be done through executive action and requested the court to stay the government's notification.

The bench, however, left it for the Constitution bench to take a call on passing any interim order. “Since the final hearing would start in November-end and the time for linking Aadhaar has already been extended, there is no need to pass an interim order.Liberty is granted to the petitioners to press for interim order before the Constitution bench if the hearing does not take place or hearing continued beyond the period,“ it said.

The court also issued notice to the Centre on fresh petitions filed against the Aadhaar Act and tagged them with the main case which would be heard by the Constitution bench.