Aadhaar-PAN linking deadline to remain same; here's answer to all confusions

Aadhaar-PAN linking deadline is just two days away. Ahead of August 31, people are still confused over the deadline after Arun Jaitley's reply to a Lok Sabha question. The confusion rose even further after the Supreme Court's order on Right to Privacy, which protected it as a fundamental right under the constitution.

In March, the government had made it mandatory to link Aadhaar number with Permanent Account Number (PAN) by July 1. However, on July 31, the Ministry of Finance had extended this deadline to August 31. 

Here we try to clear your doubts in just four questions.

1. What Ministry of Finance said on July 31?

Answer: July 31, which was also the last day to file Income Tax Return, the Ministry of Finance had to extend the deadline after the official income tax website faced technical glitch. 

That time, the Ministry had said, "There are some complaints that the taxpayers are not being able to log on to the e-filing website of Income Tax Department or not being able to link Aadhaar with PAN because of different names reflected in PAN and Aadhaar database. While technical snags have been removed already, the main reason for failure of people to log in is because of last minute rush and panic in which those who have already logged in want to continue for the entire period for fear of losing it.

"For the purpose of e-filing return, it would be sufficient as of now to quote Aadhaar or acknowledgement No. for having applied for Aadhaar in e-filing website. The actual linking of PAN with Aadhaar can be done subsequently, but any time before 31st August, 2017. However, the returns will not be processed until the linkage of Aadhaar with PAN is done."

2. What did Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in Lok Sabha?

Answer: On August 11, an individual asked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, "whether the Government has fixed any time frame to complete the linking of Aadhaar with PAN". Replying to the question, Jaitley said that no time frame has been fixed for completion. 

Also what needs to be noted here is the question and his reply nowhere mentioned the extension of deadlline. Which means, the deadline still remains August 31. 

3. What did Supreme Court's verdict say?

Answer: The Supreme Court on August 24 declared right to privacy as a Fundamental right under the Constitution.

A nine-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar ruled that right to privacy is protected intrinsically as part of rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

4. What is the deadline to link Aadhaar-PAN?

Answer. The deadline to link both unique IDs will be same August 31. 

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)  CEO, Ajay Bhushan Pandey said that linking of two unique IDs is compulsory under the amendment in Income Tax Act and will continue under the Act. Which means, the top court's order will have no impact on the linking.

New India Express in a report quoted Pandey saying, "All the deadlines that have been prescribed under the Aadhaar Act, Income Tax Act or money laundering rules will “have to be adhered to as those laws are valid. The Aadhaar Act is a valid law passed by Parliament. The Supreme Court judgement has not said anything about the Aadhaar Act."

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