The high-voltage hearing on pleas challenging the Centre's move to make Aadhaar mandatory for PAN cards today saw a lighter moment when the Supreme Court said that a man becomes a "pauper" in a matrimonial dispute.
"In a lighter vein, we must say that in a matrimonial dispute, once a plea seeking maintenance is filed, the man who has the best income at the time of marriage, becomes a pauper," a bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said.
During the hearing, when senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for a petitioner, raised the issue of the government's move to make quoting Aadhaar for filing income tax returns, the bench asked him, "Do you have a PAN card?".
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When the counsel replied in the affirmative, the bench asked, "Do you have a Aadhaar?".
As Datar said he has an Aadhaar, Justice Sikri said, "I too have an Aadhaar. I had got it when I was the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court".
The day-long hearing on the pleas challenging the constutitional validity of section 139 AA of the Income Tax (IT) Act would continue tomorrow.
Section 139AA of the IT Act, introduced by the Finance Act 2017, provides for mandatory quoting of Aadhaar or enrolment ID of Aadhaar application form for filing of income tax returns and for making application for allotment of PAN number with effect from July 1 this year.
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