New Delhi: As the central government makes 12-digit Aadhaar number mandatory for filing of Income Tax (IT) returns and insists on linking the Permanent Account Number (PAN) with Aadhaar, millions of people across India are facing practical and technical issues.
The government has indicated that Aadhaar could become the sole identity card in the future. From December 31, the government will treat any PAN card that has not been linked to an Aadhaar number invalid.
IT returns too would not be accepted without the identification number backed by biometrics such as fingerprints and Iris scans stored in a central database.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has already hinted that the Aadhaar card may replace PAN card in the future. There are many other services, including railway ticket booking, claiming of subsidies, application for scholarships where Aadhaar in all likelihood is going to become mandatory.
“A stage may come when unique identity Aadhaar card may become the sole card. There are many countries where such a situation exists. There is a social security number in America and in India, Aadhaar could be the counterpart,” Jaitley said last week.
Sources in the Finance Ministry told Gulf News that “the amendments in the Finance Bill introduced these provisions to weed out duplicate PAN numbers and reduce the scope for tax evasion. The government has detected instances where some people had even five PAN cards.”
So far, more than 111 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued. The unique identification number Aadhaar is being used for getting a new SIM card, for opening bank accounts, transfer of subsidies and also for biometric-based digital payments under the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System.
The government’s move has been criticised by experts, who call the move unconstitutional and in violation of Supreme Court orders that have called for Aadhaar to not be made mandatory.
“This is threatening to turn taxpayers into defaulters. Why do we need a PAN card at all. Let IT department change their system to just switch over to Aadhaar Number as the identification of a tax payer. We already have so many numbers to deal with like voter ID No, driver licence number, Director Identification Number (DIN), gas connection number — the list is long,” Gopal Krishna, head of Citizens Forum for Civic Liberties, told Gulf News.
Krishna said he would challenge in court the classification of the Finance Bill as a Money Bill, which does not need to pass in Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament) where the government is in a minority.
“If it goes unchallenged then it sets a very wrong precedent that governments can get any legislation passed by making them Money Bills. This disrupts constitutional functioning. As concerned citizens of India, we are appalled and dismayed at the government’s use of money bills to push through important legislation that affects all citizens, without requiring approval by both houses of Parliament. These bills and the relevant provisions that cannot be described as routine in any sense, must be subject to proper democratic scrutiny in both houses of Parliament,” he emphasised.
On April five, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court challenging the decision to make Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns. The petition was moved by Kerala Communist Party of India leader Binoy Viswam questioning the introduction of Section 139 AA of the IT Act to link Aadhaar with PAN.
The petitioner quoted the Supreme Court’s observation which said that the same was not mandatory.
“Due to the introduction of Section 139 AA in the Income Tax Act, I have been coerced into obtaining an Aadhaar card in complete violation of my right to privacy as enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution,” the petitioner said.
He argued that biometric and demographic information are being forcefully obtained by the state machineries through the introduction of unique identification Aadhaar number, hence negating the requirement of consent.
