The Supreme Court today stayed the government's order to make Aadhaar card mandatory for PAN holders and said it can't be made mandatory for filing Income Tax returns. However, the apex court added that those who have Aadhaar must provide its details while filing Income Tax returns.
The top court was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of a provision in the Income Tax Act making Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns and allotment of PAN.
"The primary Aadhaar act is voluntary for people, the subsequent amendment to the IT Act cannot make it mandatory. The Supreme Court's interim order permitted Aadhaar to be used only for PDS schemes, it can not be extended for I-T Act," Arvind Dattar, arguing for petitioners told the Supreme Court.
A bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan had on May 4 reserved the verdict on the pleas, challenging section 139AA of the Income Tax (I-T) Act, which was introduced through the latest budget and the Finance Act, 2017.
Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act provides for mandatory quoting of Aadhaar or enrollment ID of Aadhaar application form for filing of income tax returns and making application for allotment of PAN (Permanent Account Number) with effect from July 1 this year.
While opposing the government's move, the petitioners, including CPI leader Binoy Viswam, have contended before the bench that the Centre cannot "belittle" the apex court's 2015 order holding the unique identification number as voluntary.
They argued that government should not have enacted section 139AA in the Act to make Aadhaar mandatory for PAN as the apex court's five-judge bench order was clear that Aadhaar was voluntary and not mandatory.
However, the Centre had contended that Aadhaar was made mandatory for allotment of PAN to weed out fake cards which were used for terror financing and circulation of black money.
Does that mean that linking Aadhaar with PAn is mandatory now?
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