The Supreme Court on Monday said that it was essential to link Aadhaar with the PAN card to file income tax returns. The court was hearing the government’s plea against a Delhi High Court order allowing the respondent, Shreya Sen, to file income tax returns for 2018-’19 without linking her Aadhaar and PAN numbers.

In its judgement, the court said that the High Court’s verdict was based on the consideration that the decision on making Aadhaar-PAN linkage compulsory for filing returns was pending in the Supreme Court. “Thereafter, this court has decided the matter and upheld Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act,” the bench said. “In view thereof, linkage of PAN with Aadhaar is necessary.”

The court said that the respondent had filed her income tax returns for 2018-’19 based on the orders of the High Court, but will have to link her Aadhaar and PAN card to file them for the 2019-’20 financial year.

In September, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar scheme. In a 4-1 judgement, a Constitutional bench of the court said that the Aadhaar Act did not violate the right to privacy. It also upheld the passage of the Aadhaar Bill as a money bill in the Lok Sabha. #casansaar