Aadhaar mandatory for filing IT Returns and PAN: Supreme Court

New Delhi, Sep 26: The Supreme Court Wednesday declared the Centre's flagship Aadhaar scheme as constitutionally valid but struck down some of its provisions including its linking with bank accounts, mobile phones and school admissions.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra held that while Aadhaar would remain mandatory for filing of IT returns and allotment of Permanent Account Number (PAN). However, the linking of your Aadhaar number to bank accounts is not required anymore, and the same goes for linking it to SIM cards.

The bench 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 application for allotment of PAN.

Section 139AA was incorporated to the Income Tax Act vide Finance Act, 2017 requiring mandatory quoting of Aadhaar or enrolment ID of Aadhaar application form for filing of income tax returns and making application for allotment of PAN (Permanent Account Number).

Services where Aadhaar is mandatory

• It is mandatory to link PAN with Aadhaar.
• Aadhaar is compulsory for filing Income Tax returns.
• Aadhaar must for availing facilities of welfare schemes and government subsidies.

The Supreme Court said benefits under the Aadhaar project should be in the nature of welfare schemes and it cannot be made compulsory for services such as bank accounts, mobile connections or school admissions. The much-awaited verdict on the Aadhaar matter comes after several petitions had challenged the system on the grounds that it violates privacy.

The Aadhaar verdict was announced by a five-judge constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.K. Sikri, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Ashok Bhushan. The bench had reserved the verdict after hearing the petitions for over 38 days starting January 17 this year.