SC partially stays linking of PAN with Aadhaar
new delhi — The Supreme Court on Friday put a partial stay on the implementation of the provisions in the Income Tax (IT) Act making Aadhaar number mandatory for allotment of PAN card and filing of income tax returns (ITR).
However, the apex court upheld the validity of Section 139AA of the IT Act, subject to the outcome of the batch of petitions before its Constitution bench which is examining if the Aadhaar scheme infringes on the Right to Privacy and if there is threat of data leakage.
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.
Holding that the court could not question the wisdom of legislature to enact a particular law, the bench said that issue raised before it was of seminal importance.
The Centre had earlier said that the programme of PAN had become suspect as it could be faked, while Aadhaar was a “secure and robust” system by which the identity of an individual could not be faked.—