The Madras High Court on Tuesday allowed a petitioner to file her income tax returns manually, without quoting the Aadhaar number or the enrolment ID, Live Law reported. Petitioner Preeti Mohan relied on a June 9 Supreme Court judgement, which said Aadhaar cannot be mandatory for filing I-T returns.
“These directions further make clear that the Aadhaar scheme was always meant to be voluntary,” read the petition. “To now constrain assesses to enrol under the Aadhaar Act, by applying Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, despite the grant of partial stay by the Supreme Court, the respondents are acting in a manner directly opposed to the Supreme Court’s various directions.”
The court also took note of a similar petition filed before the Kerala High Court to make its decision. “I am inclined to grant a similar relief, today [October 31] being the last date for filing the income tax returns,” Justice TS Sivagnanam said.
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