PAN-Aadhar link to curb tax evasion: Centre to SC

The Centre told Supreme Court that the linking of Permanent Account Number (PAN) to Aadhaar card in accordance with the Income Tax law amendment was done to curb tax evasion and keep tabs on circulation of black money as PAN was not foolproof. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said it was easy to get fake or duplicate PAN cards and mentions some estimates showing nearly 10 lakh fake PAN cards being made every year. He said keeping this in mind, new provision of Section 139AA was added to the law passed by Parliament, making it mandatory to quote Aadhaar for filing income tax returns and allotment of PAN number from July 1 this year. Opposing the plea of the petitioners, challenging constitutional validity of Section 139AA, Rohatgi told the bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan that biometric system was the only way to prevent duplication as there was no way in which people could get a duplicate or fake Aadhaar number and linking of PAN with Aadhaar would be very effective in monitoring cases of tax evasion. Senior advocate Shyam Divan and Arvind Datar, appearing for the petitioners, contended that making Aadhaar mandatory would push the country towards a totalitarian state where citizens' rights would be made subservient and the government would keep an eye on each of their activities. Arvind Datar told the bench that linking PAN with Aadhaar would violate the people's fundamental rights as they would be barred from doing any monetary transaction if they did not have Aadhaar number. “ When Aadhaar Act says it is voluntary, how can the government make it mandatory for the Income Tax Act,& quot he said. The bench said the decision was taken by Parliament and it was not for the judiciary to go into the issue whether the present system was better or worse. The court said that the government's assertion could not restrain Parliament from passing a law.