SC stays Centre's order of linking Aadhar with PAN card for IT return

IMAGE: ANI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Union Government's order of linking Aadhaar card with the Permanent Account Number (PAN) card for filing of Income Tax Return (ITR). The apex court has stayed the linking process till the constitution bench takes a decision on the same. Meanwhile, Senior Counsel Salman Khurshid termed it as a very meaningful and helpful judgment and said that it is not a setback for the Centre, as the court is just coordinating and co-operating with the parliament to find an appropriate scheme. "Apart from the consequences of what relief is being given. There is also a very broad discussion in the judgement, which would certainly be helpful for the constitutional bench," Khurshid told ANI. Earlier, the Income Tax Department stepped up its efforts to encourage people to link their PAN with Aadhaar. In the recent days, while many taxpayers have received emails on how to do the PAN-Aadhaar linking online, advertisements in leading national dailies have described how it can be done via SMS. Urging the taxpayers to link Aadhaar with PAN as soon as possible, an email from the Income Tax Department's e-filing team reads: "This (linking of Aadhaar and PAN) will be useful for E-Verification of Income Tax returns using Aadhaar OTP (One-Time Password)." The government had earlier decided to lower the limit on cash transaction from Rs. 3 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh, and make Aadhaar number mandatory for filing income tax returns and applying for a PAN card. The decisions were part of amendments moved to the finance bill, which puts into effect the Budget proposals.