Aadhaar-PAN linking deadline extended by 4 months till Dec 31

Mumbai: In a major relief for income tax filers and holders of Aadhaar and PAN cards, the government on Thursday extended the deadline for linking the two crucial documents by four months up to December 31. In July, the government had allowed linking of Aadhaar with PAN till August 31 along with five days relaxation in deadline for filing income tax returns from July 31 to August 5.

The Income Tax department and the Unique Identification Authority of India, two agencies that issue PAN cards and Aadhaar cards, have so far issued over 25 crore PAN cards and more than 115 crore Aadhaar cards respectively.

The relaxation in the linkage deadline comes in the backdrop of the Supreme Court recently ruling overwhelmingly in favour of privacy right. The nine-judge bench of the SC in its order had said right to privacy was part of right to life enshrined in Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, thus making privacy a fundamental right.

The verdict has raised several questions over government's series of mandates regarding the 10-digit, biometric-based Aadhaar card, wherein quoting the document number has been made compulsory for accessing various social welfare schemes.

The government has made linking of Aadhaar with PAN compulsory for filing income tax returns. It has also made quoting the 10-digit unique identification number for availing a slew of services including accessing benefits of social welfare schemes, among them Direct Benefit Transfer is most popular among the consumers. DBT deposits subsidy money directly into consumers' savings bank accounts, thus narrowing the room for pilferage.