The Center has amended the Income Tax Rules, 1962 to allow Transgenders to be recognized as an independent category in the application forms for obtaining a Permanent Account Number (PAN). The move comes after reports emerged that the transgender community was facing difficulties in linking their Pan Card with Aadhar because of gender mismatch as the latter provides for an independent gender category for the community while the Pan Card did not until now.
A senior official said, “Individuals from the transgender community were facing hassles in obtaining a PAN card and this problem was further magnified as Aadhaar had the third gender category but not PAN. Hence, they were not able to link their PAN with their Aadhaar due to this anomaly.”
The move comes after a transgender social activist from Bihar filed petition in the Supreme Court for the inclusion of an independent category for transgenders in PAN Cards. Her petition stated, “…preventing transgender persons from receiving a PAN card by solely limiting registration to males and females is arbitrary, incongruent with the decision of the Supreme Court in NALSA (2014), and is inconsistent with numerous provisions of the Constitution.”
The changes will be reflected in forms 49A (PAN application for Indian citizens) and 49AA (PAN application forms for individuals not citizens of India). The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), which had earlier issued a notification on the 9th of April providing a new tick box for transgenders applying for PAN, has recently extended the date for the linking of Aadhan and Pan to June 30, 2018.
