• Server unresponsive; many return home due to hot sun
• Fake last date extension notices circulated on social media

Mysore/Mysuru: With Mar. 31, 2023 declared as the last day to link one’s Permanent Account Number (PAN) with their Aadhaar card, hundreds of citizens were seen rushing to banks and cyber centres and MysoreOne centres to complete the task before the deadline. There is still panic among people who are now rushing for registration and linking.

This has been the scenario across the country and as a result, the server has slowed down with only one or two applications being cleared per hour. The software is becoming unresponsive and is taking a long time to upload the documents. The rule has been implemented to ensure that all taxpayers have a unique identification number linked to their PAN, which will in turn help curb tax evasion.

According to the Income Tax Department, if one does not link Aadhaar and PAN before the March 31 deadline, then the PAN will become inoperative. Filing an Income Tax Return (ITR) may also become challenging if the PAN and Aadhaar numbers are not linked.

Cyber centre staff were seen struggling with the challan payment option, even as many people were waiting outside under the hot sun. Many were seen returning homes unable to bear the summer heat and were asking the cyber centre staff to keep a place for them in the evening.

Including the penalty of Rs. 1,000, the cyber centres are charging anywhere between Rs. 1,100 and Rs. 1,200 to link the PAN with Aadhaar cards.

Residents who were waiting outside the cyber cafes at Kuvempunagar, Saraswathipuram and Hebbal told Star of Mysore that the server functioned well in the morning and became slow after 11.30 am.

“The process is very simple but a machine can take the load of only one or two applicants per hour as the server is hanging,” said Vikas Rao who runs a cyber cafe in Saraswathipuram.

Will the deadline be extended?

The government has already extended the deadline four times and the last extension was on March 30, 2022 and the notification said that the last date for linkage of PAN-Aadhaar is March 31, 2023. While extending the deadline, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had said that after 31st March, 2023, the PAN of individuals who fail to link it with their Aadhaar will become inoperative and all the consequences under the Income Tax Act for not furnishing, intimating or quoting the PAN shall apply to such tax-payers.

Reports from New Delhi said that the government is likely to extend the deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar by another two or three months. The CBDT could issue a notification to this effect in official channels soon. However, a fee will have to be paid for the period. Meanwhile, several notices are doing the rounds on social media indicating that the deadline has been extended till March 2024. Officials said that these notices are fake.