The Supreme Court of India today ruled that the Indian government cannot cancel PAN cards if citizens don't link an Aadhaar number to their PAN card. The PAN card is a necessary document for filing taxes. In what is a partial stay, the Court said that those who do not have an Aadhaar card should not be forced to get one. However, those who have a PAN card, will need to connect it to Aadhaar. They have this written down Section 139AA of the income tax act, but held it constitutional while also saying that the "Parliament needs to consider toning down the provision." What is unclear is what the Government of India will do if you have an Aadhaar number, but choose not to link it to the PAN card. The full text of the (apparently voluminous) judgment hasn't been published yet. The court also highlighted the issue of leakages of personal data and Aadhaar numbers online, creating security concerns for citizens, and said that "this is a concern that needs to be addressed by the government", adding that severe penalties need to be applicable in case of data leakages, calling preventive measures "essential". Issues relating to the right to self determination, the right to be left alone and "informational self determination" were deemed to be related the issue of privacy, which will be heard if and when the Supreme Court sets up a constitutional bench to hear those cases. The court looked at issues related to Article 14…
