Aadhaar must for PAN, income tax; Modi govt draws SC flak
SC asks govt why it has made Aadhaar compulsory when apex court has kept it optional.
Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Friday slammed Narendra Modi government for latter's decision to make provision of Aadhaar mandatory for applying for Permanent Account Number cards as well as filing for income tax returns.
The government has made compulsory furnishing Aadhaar details at the time of filing income tax returns as well as applying for PAN card.
News agency ANI quoted the SC bench as saying, “How can you make Aadhaar card mandatory when we have passed an order to make it optional?” Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi defended government's decision in the apex court.
According to the ANI, Rohatgi told the apex court that government now had an act Uniform Identification Number under which it took the decision. He added that the agencies found a large number of PAN cards were being used to channel funds for tax evasion.
“We found a number of PAN cards being used to divert funds to shell companies. To prevent it, the only option is to make Aadhaar card mandatory,” Rohatgi told ANI.
Earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had also backed linking of Aadhaar details with PAN card for weeding out tax evaders who did not pay taxes by getting duplicate cards in their names.
Retirement fund body Employees Provident Fund Organisation or EPFO has also asked its members to link their Aadhaar details with their EPF accounts to make savings related settlement claims a hassle-free exercise.