Aadhaar mandatory for PAN, filing of income tax returns: Supreme Court

New Delhi, June 9 : The Supreme Court on Friday put a partial stay on the implementation of the provisions in the Income Tax (I-T) Act making Aadhaar number mandatory for allotment of PAN card and filing of income tax returns (ITR).
However, the apex court upheld the validity of Section 139AA of the I-T Act, subject to the outcome of the batch of petitions before its Constitution Bench, which is examining if the Aadhaar scheme infringes on the Right to Privacy and if there is threat of data leakage.
A Bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan also upheld the legislative competence of Parliament in enacting the law to this effect.
It also clarified that it has not touched upon the issue of Right to Privacy and other aspects that the Aadhaar scheme affects the human dignity, which has to be decided by the Constitution Bench.The Bench asked the government to take appropriate steps to ensure there was no leakage of data from the Aadhaar scheme.