---
title: "June July Updates"
description: "## Update Amended to addLive Law reported that assesses can now file their income tax returns online without the Aadhaar enrolment number as the Delhi High Court, while providing the relief to two pet..."
pubDate: 2018-07-24
author: Rethink Aadhaar
category: Uncategorized
originalUrl: https://rethinkaadhaar.in/blog/june-july-updates
---

## Update Amended to addLive Law reported that assesses can now file their income tax returns online without the Aadhaar enrolment number as the Delhi High Court, while providing the relief to two petitioners, asked the Central Board of Direct Taxes to create a platform for people to file returns without Adhaar till the deadline of March 31, 2019 for PAN-Aadhar linkage. A bench of Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice A K Chawla allowed petitioners Shreya Sen and one other to file their income tax return online without the Aadhaar. Read the [order of the Delhi High court dated 24.07.2018](http://www.livelaw.in/now-people-can-file-it-return-sans-aadhaar-as-delhi-hc-asks-cbdt-to-create-a-platform-for-filing-itr-without-aadhaar-at-least-till-march-31-2019-read-order/).
Similarly, on 24.07.2018, the Madras High Court also allowed 9 petitioners to file their taxes manually without submitting Aadhaar numbers. [Bar and Bench reported](https://barandbench.com/madras-hc-aadhaar-itr/).
## Is Aadhaar mandatory? What is it mandatory for? 1. The government has repeatedly asserted that Aadhaar is not mandatory. The Aadhaar enrollment form itself states that Aadhaar is "free and voluntary".
2. While there are various rules/notifications making Aadhaar linking in practice mandatory within fixed deadlines, all these deadlines have been extended, with some notifications nullified.
a) For instance, the deadline for linking PAN and Aadhaar has been extended to 31st March 2019 - the relevant CBDT Order was published on LiveLaw. On the other hand, the Income Tax Dept. continues to insist on inclusion of Aadhaar in IT returns - despite the Supreme Court direction in Binoy Visvam making production of or enrollment for Aadhaar for this purpose strictly voluntary. There are, thankfully, “easy” workarounds - see our section below for more details.
b) The 13th March order of the Supreme Court of India states that mobile and financial services need not be linked with Aadhaar until the final judgment in the Aadhaar matters is announced by the SC’s Constitution Bench. While Aadhaar continues to be mandatory for opening new bank accounts, per the RBI’s Master Directions (updated in July 2018), the account holder has 6 months within which to link their Aadhaar. [Note: We understand that banks are demanding immediate production of Aadhaar or enrolment number. We urge that customers request written proof of such requirement failing which they should escalate the matter to the bank managers and further to the banking ombudsman.]
3. The Aadhaar scheme is currently under challenge in the Supreme Court of India and its legitimacy itself is in question. The Supreme Court is likely to curb the project: in the absence of any judgment in the case, the matter remains pending and sub judice during which time Aadhaar cannot be mandatory for availing any service or subsidy or benefit, per the SC’s earlier orders.
## Are you unable to file your Income Tax return without an Aadhaar?For most salaried employees, the process of filing Income Tax returns is fairly “automated” - once the employer supplies the Form 16, you confirm the details align with the TRACES portal record. Subsequently, you use the NetBanking-based tax service feature of your salary account (or other account already used for previous Income Tax returns) to allow you to file “e-verified” returns, usually ITR-1 (aka Sahaj). Since July 2017, the Income Tax Department has required taxpayers to provide their Aadhaar number although the form fiendishly does not indicate that the Aadhaar is mandatory. This is not doubt frustrating, especially if you do not possess an Aadhaar nor have any intention of enrolling for it. 
We have heard that the simplest hack is based on the recognition that the form does not actually “verify” the authenticity of the Aadhaar - i.e. there is no “Yes/No” authentication being performed, even during the processing of the returns. All that the form does, reportedly, is execute the Verhoeff algorithm to determine if the checksum - the 12th digit of the “Aadhaar” - is valid, thus validating the entire 12-digit number. Therefore, apparently, as long as you enter a twelve digit number that is likely to be an Aadhaar, you are good to go! 
Last year, several individuals filed their returns using 12 zeroes as their Aadhaar - fact brought up by Senior Advocate Arvind Datar during the Aadhaar hearings. We have been told that the Income Tax Department has wised up and no longer recognizes 12 zeroes as a valid Aadhaar number. There are other numbers (11 1s and a 5, for instance) that are purportedly doing the rounds which are said to serve the purpose just as well. Although many people are using such Verhoeff compliant numbers, we advise verifying through the UIDAI portal whether the Aadhaar actually exists lest you get another person into trouble!
There are reportedly other workarounds as well - using a “valid” (but not authentic) enrollment id (rather than Aadhaar), and choosing to verify your returns by post, rather than by electronic means are two. Our recommended methods, however, are other alternatives including (i) waiting for the SC judgment and paying a late filing fee than provide any Aadhaar information whatsoever and (ii) filing a writ petition in the local High Court demanding that the IT Dept allow you to file your returns without an Aadhaar. The latter method has been adopted by various groups across India, among whom are some of the petitioners in the recently concluded Aadhaar hearings. 
## Hunger Deaths ContinueThe Right to Food Campaign on 21.06.2018 held a press conference in Ranchi calling out the governance failure in Jharkhand that has lead to a spate of starvation deaths over the past year. Presenting details of 12 starvation deaths, the Campaign noted that 7 of these cases were directly related to Aadhaar-enabled exclusion. 
Reports indicate that three persons have died during the month of June.  
The reports highlight the fact that contrary to all the claims of enhancing efficiency in welfare, Aadhaar has no role to play in facilitating inclusion, For instance, Chintaman Malhar, 40, died of starvation as he had no food to eat in his makeshift shelter. His son Videsh claimed that his father was hungry for the last few days and collapsed while repairing the hut in the scorching heat on Thursday. He alleged that in spite of having Aadhar cards, they have not been issued ration card so far. For years, two successive governments at the center have portrayed Aadhaar as important to improve inclusion into government schemes. But simply having an Aadhaar does not lead to any greater inclusion as several schemes continue to have own quotas and cut-offs. While the requirement to have an Aadhaar for food schemes, and to give biometric authentication each time adds more hoops to cross to get grains and pensions on time.  
On 13th July a protest was organised at the Jharkhand State Bhawan, New Delhi by the Right to Food Campaign. The Campaign submitted a memorandum to the resident commissioner which highlighted the ongoing issues related to the Public Distribution System in Jharkhand and the various attacks on the Right to Life. The memorandum also demanded the delinking of Aadhaar from all public services.