The Gujarat High Court held that the permanent account number (PAN) cannot be declared inoperative due to non-linking of Aadhaar or Aadhaar number.
The applicant seeks a declaration that he would not be in default in any proceedings only for the reason that the permanent account number is not linked with Aadhaar or Aadhaar number is not quoted; and that pending the petition, the petitioner may not be subjected to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act states that every person who has PAN as on July 1, 2017 is required to link his/her PAN with his/her Aadhaar number. If the PAN is not linked by Aadhaar by a date to be notified by the government then PAN would become invalid. This date has now been notified as September 30, 2019.
Recently, the Constitution bench of the Supreme Court has upheld the Constitutional Validity of Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 which mandated quoting of Aadhaar or enrolment ID of Aadhaar application form for filing of income tax returns and making an application for allotment of PAN.
The Majority Judgment observed that, “On the independent examination of the matter, the aforesaid exercise undertaken in the Binoy Viswam is hereby affirmed as we are in agreement therewith. We, thus, hold that the provisions of Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 meet the triple test of right to privacy, contained in K.S. Puttaswamy”.
The division bench of Gujarat High Court comprising of Justice Harsha Devani and Justice Sangeetha K Vishen delivered the order on the basis of an application filed by Bandish Saurabh Soparkar.
The Court Ordered that only for the reason that the permanent account number is not linked with Aadhaar or Aadhaar number is not quoted and the applicant shall not be subjected to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 139AA of the Act till the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Rojer Mathew v. South Indian Bank Ltd. and others.
