Gangtok, June 27:
Sikheem Suraksha Samiti has written a letter to Pankaj Choudhary, Union Minister of State Finance Department, Government of India requesting for fee exemption of Aadhaar-PAN linking. Sikheem Suraksha Samiti, a registered non-governmental organization working for the welfare and empowerment of the people of Sikkim. In a letter it is mentioned "we are writing this letter to request you to grant us exemption from linking our Aadhaar numbers with our PAN cards. We would like to bring to your notice that we have been facing difficulties in linking our Aadhaar and PAN due to various reasons, Some belong to remote areas where accessing internet is hard often. We would like to bring to your notice that we have been facing financial difficulties in paying the prescribed fee for linking our Aadhaar and PAN due to various reasons, such as low income in remote areas, lack of resources and easy connectivity, natural calamities, etc. Some of our members are also eligible for fee exemption as per the Income Tax Act, 1961 and the Aadhaar Act, 2016, such as residents of Assam, Jammu & Kashmir and Meghalaya, non-resident Indians (NRIs), super senior citizens (above 80 years of age).
We understand that linking Aadhaar and PAN is mandatory for filing income tax returns and other purposes as per the Income Tax Act, 1961 and the Aadhaar Act, 2016. However, we request you to consider our genuine problems and financial difficulties of our North-Eastern region and the hardships and provide us with an alternative way. We hope that you will sympathize with our situation and grant us relief from this requirement. We assure you that we are law-abiding citizens and we will cooperate with the government in fulfilling our duties and obligations.
