New Delhi: Unable to file his income tax return (ITR) due to the non-submission of Aadhaar number, despite the Centre’s assurance to the Punjab and Haryana high court that the deadline for linking Aadhaar to the PAN card has been extended to June 30, senior Supreme Court advocate and former law officer of the Central Information Commission and National Investigation Agency, Pradeep Kumar Rapria has cautioned the concerned departments that they stand in contempt of court.

Rapria, who had filed a civil writ petition before the high court at Chandigarh for being allowed to file his ITR without submitting the Aadhaar details, said during the hearing that the Additional Solicitor General of India had submitted that the deadline has been extended and “the system would accept the petitioner’s return without Aadhaar”.

The Additional Solicitor General of India had appeared on behalf of Secretary (Revenue), Central Board of Direct Taxes; Directorate of Income Tax; and Web Manager, e-Filing Unit.

Subsequently, the senior advocate said he had sent the copy of the high court order to his chartered accountant for filing his ITR. “However, I was told by my CA that the computer system still does not accept ITR without Aadhaar,” he wrote to the three parties who had been represented by the Additional Solicitor General.

Rapria, who also sent a screenshot of the website along with his e-mail to the three respondents, cautioned them in the subject line of his mail that the matter amounted to “contempt of court”.

He further stated in the mail that he had also personally approached the office of Income Tax Department situated at Panchkula for manual e-filing the ITR and there he was asked to meet six different officers to make them understand the high court order.

“However, I was replied by all officers that their computer system also does not accept ITR without Aadhaar,” he wrote, adding that then he had to drop his ITR, along with the high court order, as a normal post.

In view of the inability of the computer system to accept the ITR without Aadhaar, the senior advocate has urged the departments concerned to “correct the computer system to allow me the filing of ITR without Aadhaar”.

Failing which, he cautioned that he would be constrained to seek appropriate legal remedy for contempt of the high court order.