Aadhaar card

Hot Off The PressNews

As reported by Hindu, The deadline for linking PAN Card with Aadhaar Card has been extended several times by the Income Tax Department and the current deadline for the same will end on 31-03-2020.

The IT Department has stated that, if the PAN Card and Aadhaar Card are not linked by the 31-03-2020, they will become inoperative.

Persons whose PANs become inoperative shall be liable for all the consequences under the I-T Act for not furnishing, intimating or quoting the permanent account number.

The Income-tax (5th Amendment) Rules, 2020

[Source: The Hindu]

Case BriefsSupreme Court (Constitution Benches)

Supreme Court: 5-judge bench of H.L. Dattu, CJ and M.Y. Eqbal, C. Nagappan, Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy, JJ constituted to clarify/modify the orders dated 11.08.2015 by a 3-judge bench of this Court. The Court, however, clarified clear that the Aadhaar card Scheme is purely voluntary and it cannot be made mandatory till the matter is finally decided by this Court one way or the other.

The Court, after considering the submissions of Mukul Rohtagi, learned Attorney General for India and Shyam Divan, Soli Sorabjee and Gopal Subramanium said that if the Schemes like The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employement Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), National Social Assistance Programme (Old Age Pensions, Widow Pensions, Disability Pensions) Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and Employees’ Providend Fund Organisation (EPFO) are added to the P.D.S. Scheme and the L.P.G. Distribution Scheme as mentioned in the order dated 11.08.2015, it will not dilute the earlier order passed by this Court. The 3-judge bench order dated 11.08.2015 mentioned that the Unique Identification Number or the Aadhaar card will not be used by for any purpose other than the PDS Scheme and  the LPG Distribution Scheme. [Justice K.S.Puttaswamy (Retd) v. Union of India, 2015 SCC OnLine SC 969, dated 15.10.2015]

Supreme Court

Supreme Court: Sitting on the matter relating to the ambitious “Aadhaar Card” scheme propounded by the Government of India under the said scheme the Government of India is collecting and compiling both the demographic and biometric data of the residents of this country to be used for various purposes, the bench of 3 judge bench of J. Chelameswar, S.A. Bobde and C. Nagappan, JJ referred the matter to a 5-judge bench. However, the Court said that till the matter is finally decided by the larger bench, it will not be mandatory for a citizen to obtain Aadhaar Card and also, production of an Aadhaar card will not be condition for obtaining any benefits otherwise due to a citizen.

After considering the submissions made by Mukul Rohatgi, Attorney General and KK Venugopal, the Court held that the Unique Identification Number or the Aadhaar card will not be used by the respondents for any purpose other than the PDS Scheme and in particular for the purpose of distribution of foodgrains, etc. and cooking fuel, such as kerosene. The Aadhaar card may also be used for the purpose of the LPG Distribution Scheme. The Court further held that the information about an individual obtained by the Unique Identification Authority of India while issuing an Aadhaar card shall not be used for any other purpose, save as above, except as may be directed by a Court for the purpose of criminal investigation. Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, decided on 11.08.2015