New Delhi: About 11.5 crore PAN cards were deactivated as they were not linked to Aadhaar cards before the stipulated deadline, according to The Hindu. The data was revealed by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in response to a Right to Information (RTI) query by Chandra Shekhar Gaur.
The deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar cards was June 30 this year. According to the newspaper, of the 70.24 crore PAN card holders in India, 57.25 crore have linked their cards with Aadhaar. Among the nearly 13 crore who have not, 11.5 crore cards have been deactivated, the RTI reply stated.
For those who were issued PAN cards after July 1, 2017, the linking with Aadhaar was done automatically. But those who were issued PAN cards before that date had to link it manually, under sub-section (2) of Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act.
“This linking of PAN and Aadhaar was required to be done on or before a notified date, failing which PAN becomes inoperative,” the CBDT said in the RTI reply, according to The Hindu.
Section 234H of the IT Act also makes a person who has not linked their PAN with Aadhaar liable to pay a fee. To get the PAN card reactivated, the CBDT has imposed a penalty of Rs 1,000.
Gaur criticised this, saying that the cost of a new PAN card is Rs 91 excluding GST. “Then how can the government impose a 10-fold fine for getting the PAN card reactivated? Also, how will people whose PAN cards have gotten deactivated file income tax? Government should rethink and extend time limits for at least a year for linking PAN with Aadhaar,” Gaur told The Hindu.