A two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justices S Ravindra Bhat and AK Chawla issued an oral order permitting the filing of income tax (IT) returns online without an Aadhaar card registration or enrolment number. The Bench further directed the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to set up a platform which enables filing of IT returns without PAN card and Aadhaar linkage till March 31, 2019.
The order was in line with one issued in the Mukul Talwar v Union of India case on May 14, 2018 as well as the Punjab and Haryana High Court case of Pradeep Kumar v Union of India.
Additionally, the Court directed CBDT to put forth an “opt out” provision for the mandatory requirement of furnishing Aadhaar registration or linkage.
The order comes in light of contentions raised by the petitioner with respect to automated emails received by them from IT authorities indicating them to approach to the judiciary for relief vis-a-vis filing of IT returns without an Aadhaar enrolment ID, which was suspended by a CBDT order dated June 30, 2018.
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