APRIL 22, 2017 00:00 IST
To this, the top law officer submitted that the October 15 Constitution Bench order had referred to the voluntary use of Aadhaar in welfare schemes and not non-welfare activities like filing returns. Mr. Rohatgi said the Supreme Court itself had agreed to making Aadhaar mandatory in certain fields to protect identity and national security.
“You [SC] yourself had recently ordered that Aadhaar should be made mandatory to procure SIM cards,” Mr. Rohatgi contended. He argued that fake PAN and ration cards have flooded the market and jinxed financial transactions.
“A person can get multiple PANs in the names of Mukesh Gupta, then another PAN as Mukesh Kumar Gupta and a third one as M.K. Gupta, so on and so forth,” Mr. Rohatgi said.
He argued that it is already a mandatory requirement under Section 139A of the Income Tax Act to allot PAN. Aadhaar is only being linked to it.
“At first they had objected to Aadhaar saying there was no legislation. Then we brought in the legislation. Now they are complaining about this,” Mr. Rohatgi submitted. The government was referring to The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act of 2016. The enactment of this Act as a Money Bill is itself under challenge in the Supreme Court on a petition filed by former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh.
“Going by the AG’s logic about fake PANs, I get a PAN card on the basis of showing my Aadhaar as proof. By making Aadhaar mandatory under Section 139AA, my PAN becomes invalid. This has serious consequences,” Mr. Datar for Mr. Viswam submitted. He said the Aadhaar Act itself does not make obtaining Aadhaar mandatory. “Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 which makes enrolment for Aadhaar mandatory, without making appropriate amendments to the Act which till date does not prescribe that the enrolment is mandatory, in a Finance Bill was with the intention of avoiding the Rajya Sabha where the ruling party does not have a majority,” Mr. Viswam said in his petition.
The court agreed to hear the petitions on April 26.