SC reserves verdict on Aadhaar-PAN linkage

After strongly contested arguments amid a raging public debate, the Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on the constitutional validity of a law making it mandatory for citizens to link their Permanent Account Number with Aadhaar unique identity.A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan will decide on the validity of Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act which provides for compulsory quoting of Aadhaar for filing income tax returns and application for allotment of PAN from July 1.Though the court’s verdict will be confined to the validity of Section 139AA, the judgment will have wider implications as government authorities are expanding the ambit of Aadhaar by linking it to various other schemes.Justifying the law, the Centre termed Aadhaar an effective and fool proof tool to check tax evasion. However, civil society members challenged the provision and said it was a “draconian” law which will take away people’s right of privacy and allow the government to monitor their lives through digital surveillance. The government said Aadhaar was mandatory under the Aadhaar Act and there is nothing wrong in linking it with other schemes besides asserting that the law passed by Parliament could not be questioned by court. The Centre had earlier assured the SC that Aadhaar will not be made mandatory till its constitutional validity is decided by the court but Parliament went ahead and passed the law for compulsory linking with PAN.

The Times of India New Delhi, 05th May 2017