Over 10 lakh duplicate PAN cards cancelled

New Delhi, Aug 24 (UNI) The Union government has cancelled 10,18,421 Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards till August 10 which were found to be duplicate.

Stating this in the Lok Sabha in reply to a question by Mr Adhir Chowdhury (Congress), Finance Minister P Chidambaram said of 13,10,127 PAN cards suspected to be duplicate, verification of 11,43,919 cards was carried out till August ten and as many as 10,18,421 were found to be duplicate.

Asked if the income tax department has examined the option of recording biometric information on PAN cards to check duplicacy, the Minister said a joint working group set up to consider it has submitted its report which is under consideration.

On suggestions by Mr Uday Singh and Mohammed Salim to issue a universal card with a unique number to all Indians, Mr Chidambaram said this did not come under his Ministry but added the Ministry of Home Affairs had already launched a pilot project to get a feedback.

UNI