New Delhi: A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices A.K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan today announced its verdict on the mandatory linking of Aadhaar and PAN. The Court put partial stay on making Aadhaar number mandatory for allotment of PAN card and filing of ITR.  
However, the court upheld the validity of the I-T Act before its Constitution bench for examining whether the Aadhaar scheme infringes on the right to privacy and if there is any threat of data leakage.

“PAN cannot be treated as invalid for the time being since the challenge to the Aadhaar Act is pending,” the court said.
The Apex Court maintained that Aadhaar card is voluntary and not mandatory. It made it clear that PAN Card without Aadhaar Number would not be treated invalid till the bench decides on the issue of Right to Privacy.
The Court also clarified that the previous transactions won’t be affected with this partial stay on the new law till the issue of privacy which is linked to Aadhaar card is decided.
On May 4, the bench had reserved the verdict on the pleas, challenging section 139 AA of the Income Tax Act, which was introduced through the latest budget and the Finance Act, 2017.
This section provides for mandatory quoting of Aadhaar for filing of income tax returns and to apply for Permanent Account Number from July 1 this year.