| Headnote |
Income Tax Act, 1961: s.139AA - Constitutionality of- s.139AA makes it compulsory for assessees to give aadhaar number - Constitutional validity of s.139AA challenged on the ground that since enrolment under Aadhaar Act is voluntary, it cannot be made compulsory under the ยท Income Tax Act - Held: The purpose for enrolment under the Aadhaar Act is to avail benefits of various welfare schemes etc. as stipulated in. s. 7 of.th.e Aadhaar Act - The purpose behind Income Tax Act, on the other hand, is entirely different - For achieving the purpose such as curbing black money, money laundering and tax evasion etc., if the Parliament chooses to make the provision mandatory under the Income Tax Act, the competence of the Parliament cannot be questioned on the ground that it is impermissible only because under Aadhaar Act, the provision is directory in nature - It is the prerogative of the Parliament to make a particular provision directory in one statute and mandatory/ compulsory in other - That by itself cannot be a ground to question the competence of the legislature - After all, Aadhaar Act is not a mother Act - Two laws, i.e., Aadhaar Act, on the one hand, and law in the form of s.139AA of the Act, on the other hand, are two different stand alone provisions/laws and validity of one cannot be examined in the light of provisions of other Acts - Thus, there is no conflict between the provisions of Aadhaar Act and s.139AA of Income Tax Act in as much as when interpreted harmoniously they operate in distinct fields - Legislation - Interpretation of statutes - Harmonious construction - Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act. s.139AA - Purpose of- Held: s.139AA is aimed at seeding Aadhaar with PAN - One of the main objectives is to de-duplicate PAN cards and to bring a situation where one person is not having more than one PAN card or a person is not able to get PAN cards in assumed/fictitious names - In such a scenario, if those persons who violate s. I 39AA of the Act without any consequence, the provision shall be rendered toothless - It is the prerogative of the Legislature to make penal provisions for violation of any law made by it - The requirement of giving Aadhaar enrolment number to the designated authority or stating this number in the income tax returns is directly connected with the issue of duplicate/fake PANs - Therefore, it cannot be denied that there has to be some provision stating the consequences for not complying with the requirements of s. l 39AA of the Act, more particularly when these requirements are found as not violative of Arts.14 and 19 - If Aadhar. number is not given, the said exercise may not be possible - Sub-section (1) of s. l 39AA stipulates that those who are not PAN holders, while applying for PAN, they are required to give Aadhaar number - At the same time, as far as existing PAN holders are concerned, since the impugned provisions are yet to be considered on the touchstone of Art.21 of the Constitution, including on the debate around Right to Privacy and human dignity, etc. as limbs of Art.2I, till the said aspect of Art.2I is decided by the Constitution Bench a partial stay of the said proviso is necessary - Those who have already enrolled themselves under Aadhaar scheme would comply with the requirement of sub-section (2) of s.139AA of the Act - However, those assessees who are not Aadhaar card holders and do not comply with the provision of s.139(2), their PAN cards be not treated as invalid for the time being - person who is holder of PAN and if his PAN is invalidated, he is bound to suffer immensely in his day to F day dealings, which situation should be avoided till the Constitution Bench authoritatively determines the argument of Art.21 of the Constitution - Since this course of action is adopted, in the interregnum, it would be permissible for the Parliament to consider as to whether there is a need to tone down the effect of the said G proviso by limiting the consequences - However, at the same time, proviso to s. 139AA(2) cannot be read retrospectively - Constitution of India - Art.21. s.139AA(2) proviso - Retrospective effect - Constitutionality of- Held: If failure to intimate the Aadhaar number renders PAN void ab initio with the deeming provision that the PAN allotted would A be invalid as if the person had not applied for allotment of PAN would have rippling effect of unsettling settled rights of the parties - It has the effect of undoing all the acts done by a person on the basis of such a PAN - It may have even the effect of incurring other penal consequences under the Act for earlier period on the ground that there was no PAN registration by a particular assessee - The rights which are already accrued to a person in law cannot be taken away - Therefore, proviso to sub-section (2) has to be read down to mean that it would operate only prospective. Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016: Object of its enactment - Held: The Aadhaar Act is enacted to enable the Government to identify individuals for delivery of benefits, subsidies and services under various welfare schemes. Whether Aadhaar card scheme whereby biometric data of an individual is collected violates- Right to Privacy and, therefore, is offensive of Art.21 of the Constitution - Held: This issue is pending before the Constitution Bench and is yet to be decided - In the process, the Constitution Bench is also called upon to decide as to whether Right to Privacy is a part of Art. 21 of the Constitution at all - Final decision pending - Constitution of India - Art.21. Need to interconnect the databases - Linking PAN with Aadhaar/biometric information to prevent use of wrong PAN for high value transactions - Multiple methods of giving proofs of identity - There is no mechanism/system at present to collect the data available with each of the independent proof of ID - Seeding of existing PAN with Aadhaar is perceived as the best method, and the only robust method for de-duplication of PAN database. |
