Madras HC allows 9 petitioners to file I-T returns without Aadhaar

The court reasoned that the Supreme Court was yet to decide on the constitutionality of Aadhaar.
Madras HC allows 9 petitioners to file I-T returns without Aadhaar
Madras HC allows 9 petitioners to file I-T returns without Aadhaar
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The Madras High Court on Tuesday allowed nine petitioners to file their Income Tax returns without their Aadhaar cards.

According to a report in Bar and Bench, the Madras High Court stated that they could manually file their returns “without quoting Aadhaar or an Aadhaar enrolment number for the Assessment Year 2018-2019.”

A division bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Anand Venkatesh reasoned that the Supreme Court was yet to give its judgement on the constitutionality of Aadhaar.

With the deadline for filing Income Tax returns fast approaching on July 31, the Bench reportedly stated that the move "would not be prejudicial to the income tax department.

However, the court also held that the petitioners would have to cite their Aadhaar details, if the Supreme Court ruled as such.

According to a report in The Hindu, Additional Solicitor General G Rajagopalan and senior standing counsel of the Income Tax department argued that e-filing was mandatory.

The court noted that similar allowances had been made by the Delhi High Court as well as the Bombay High Court, despite the apex court upholding the validity of Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act.

Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 as introduced by the Finance Act, 2017 provides for mandatory quoting of Aadhaar / Enrolment ID of Aadhaar application form, for filing of return of income and for making an application for allotment of Permanent Account Number with effect from July 1, 2017.

Arguing for the petitioners, senior counsel Arvind Datar pointed out that since the Act only mandates the use of Aadhaar for certain government subsidies, the petitioners should not be forced to submit their Aadhaar details when they were not obtaining such subsidies.

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