Supreme Court : Income Tax Act treats all assesses alike, not discriminatory

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has termed as "fallacious" an argument that the new provision of the Income Tax Act making Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns, is discriminatory and creates two classes.

The newly incorporated section 139AA provides for mandatory quoting of Aadhaar or enrolment ID of Aadhaar application form for filing of income tax returns and making application for allotment of PAN with effect from July 1 this year.

The apex court said the validity of an legislative act cannot be challenged by creating artificial classes by those who are objecting to a particular provision and predicating the argument of discrimination on that basis.

"When a law is made, all those who are covered by that law are supposed to follow the same. No doubt, it is the right of a citizen to approach the court and question the constitutional validity of a particular law enacted by the legislature.

The court termed as fallacious argument advanced by the counsel for petitioners that the provision of the I-T Act was discriminatory in nature as it created two classes one class of those who volunteered to enrol themselves under Aadhaar scheme and other class of those who did not want it to be so.

"It was further submitted that in this manner this provision had the effect of creating an artificial class of those who object to Aadhaar scheme as self-conscious persons.

"As far as plea of discrimination is concerned, it has to be raised by showing that the impugned law creates two classes without any reasonable classification and treats them differently," it said.

The court's observations came while it upheld the validity of the law making Aadhaar mandatory for allotment of PAN and filing of income tax returns but exempted those without it for now until the larger privacy issue is decided.