Aadhaar not must for filing I-T returns: Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court has ruled that it is not mandatory to link Aadhaar card number with income tax returns. The court's observation came after a lawyer filed a petition in this connection.

The division bench of the high court asked the department to accept the I-Treturns of the lawyer as the matter was still pending before the Supreme Court.

The lawyer Khemchand Rajaram Koshti stated in his petition that the quoting of Aadhaar Number in filing the return of Income Tax has been made mandatory. But since he has not applied for Aadhaar Enrollment he does not have an ID to quote the same in his returns.

He said that despite preparing a verified I-T return he has been unable to file the same because of the mandatory provision. The petitioner also stated that the matter was still pending before the SC.

The petition had sought the court's intervention to direct the I-T department to accept and process his returns on or before July 31, 2018 so that he did not infringe on the provisions of the act.