New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the newly-inserted provision in the Income Tax Act mandating linking of Aadhaar number with Permanent Account Number (PAN), but it partially stayed its operation.
A bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan said that those who already possess Aadhaar number will have to link it with PAN, but it cannot be insisted upon in case of people not possessing Aadhaar card.
Holding that the said provision in the IT Act was not violative of Article 14 (Right to Equality) and Article 19, Justice Sikri pronounced the judgment and said that the new provision may be effective prospectively and not retrospectively, and the transactions already undertaken in the past cannot be reopened.
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the newly-inserted provision in the Income Tax Act mandating linking of the Aadhaar number with the Permanent Account Number (PAN), but partially blocked its operation.
The bench said that those who have already applied for Aadhaar number but are yet to receive it would suffer no adverse consequences and their PAN cards would not be invalidated as this would have “serious consequences”.
Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, incorporated by way of the Finance Act 2017-2018, provides for the invalidisation of PAN if it is not linked to Aadhaar number.
The court also rejected the plea by the petitioners-senior Communist Party of India leader Binoy Visman, Maj.Gen. S.G. Vombatkere (retd.) and Safai Karamchari Andolan convenor Bezwada Wilson that it should be voluntary and not mandatory.
Addressing repeated concerns of the petitioners about leakage of personal information of the citizens collected while enrolling them for Aadhaar number, the court said this concern needs to be addressed and asked the government to tighten the procedures to guard against this.
