Aadhaar-PAN linking: Extend deadline by 6 months, remove charge to tackle touts, Congress MP writes to PM Modi

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested him to extend the deadline for linking PAN (Permanent Account Number) card with Aadhaar card for the next six months. He also requested the Prime Minister to make this process free of cost.

In his letter, the Congress leader said the Ministry of Finance has introduced a notification in order to link Aadhar card with PAN online against a payment of Rs 1,000 till March 31, 2023.

Chowdhury said most people live in extremely remote corners of the country where internet facilities are rarely available. And unscrupulous touts, he said, have started extorting money from these innocent citizens of rural India.

"This is a nightmare and hazardous to a maximum number of Indian citizens and not complying with this order would bring extreme misery to most of them," he said. "In this regard, I earnestly request you to instruct the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue to empower all Local & Sub Post Offices to help people to get their pan card linked with Aadhar card free of cost as well as extend the deadline by six months."

In March last year, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued a circular saying the PAN allotted to a person would become inoperative if it is not linked with Aadhaar by March 31, 2023.

Earlier this month, capital markets regulator Sebi asked all investors to link their PAN with their Aadhaar number by March end for smooth transactions in the securities market. The non-compliance with this would be considered non-KYC compliant, Sebi said.

The market regulator said since PAN is the key identification number and part of KYC requirements for all transactions, all Sebi-registered entities and market infrastructure institutions were required to ensure valid KYC for all participants.

"All existing investors are required to ensure linking of their PAN with Aadhaar number prior to March 31, 2023, for continual and smooth transactions in the securities market and to avoid consequences of non-compliance with the said CBDT circular," it said.

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