The Bombay High Court quashed an attachment order issued by the Gujarat commissioner of state tax against a small provision store owner in Mumbai for recovery of dues based on transactions done by his ‘impersonator’, a company using his Aadhaar card. The court expressed distress that the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the chief commissioner, Gujarat State, GST, and other authorities were at a ‘standstill’ for five years in the unique identity fraud case.
The HC division bench of Justices S M Sonak and Jitendra Jain directed the man, Vilas Lad, a 51-year-old Prabhadevi resident, to approach Income Tax Authorities, which are to then consider if it is possible to deactivate his old number and issue him a new one. If impossible, the IT department is to state what steps can be adopted to prevent misuse of the PAN number. The HC also directed the GST authorities to delete his Aadhaar and PAN numbers from its portal against the company’s name.
The HC expressed its displeasure at the Income Tax department, Mumbai, and the State Tax commissioner not being represented before it despite notices to them, and imposed costs of Rs 10,000 each on five authorities, including UIDAI, chief commissioner Gujarat state GST; chief commissioner IT, Mumbai; Union Bank of India; and State Tax Commissioner, Gujarat; for “dereliction of duty” and not initiating any criminal proceedings despite the fraud being discovered.
“When the fraud was committed on these very authorities, which should have awakened them, and they ought to have moved with lightning speed for discharging their duties to set criminal action in motion,” the HC said.
The man petitioned the HC for directions to the IT department to probe into a “bogus PAN card”, to the UIDAI to suspend and cancel his Aadhaar card, and other directions to banks and the GST department in Gujarat. His counsel, said Lad received a legal notice in 2019 for Rs 75,000 towards unpaid rent in Rajkot, and in 2020 for almost Rs 14 lakh in an alleged dishonour of a cheque issued by a company.
JB Mishra, counsel for the Centre, informed the HC of the various steps the govt had initiated to prevent Aadhaar misuse, including securing enrolment and updating the ecosystem with biometric and demographic checks, among others. The HC opined that shortcomings in the implementation of laws are the reason the frauds are perpetuated, and hence swift proactive action would be an effective deterrent.
The HC directed the Gujarat State Tax department not to initiate any proceedings against Lad “for transactions of Metro International Trading Company, the impersonator”, and also directed that proceedings pending before a magistrate must not to go on till the Mumbai man’s complaint made to Gujarat Police is taken to its logical conclusion and the culprits arrested.
Source #TOI
