Purnima Advertising Agency Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Dy. CIT (Gujarat High Court)
HC held that we cannot uphold the stand of the department that PAN in correction can be corrected as long as mismatch is upto two alphabets and two numeric characters. This distinction or drawing of a cutoff line cannot be supported by any logic. We do not even find any conscious decision placed before us which can be stated to be the basis of this policy. Affidavit in reply merely refers to the requirement of limiting the correction of such errors, according to which the online system has been programmed. Programming of the online system is merely a mechanical part of the decision. The decision to limit the correction to limited characters is a policy decision which should be based on logical parameters. Had the department in mind the possible interest claims of the deductors in case of delay in processing the refunds, provisions could easily have been made in law either through statute or through delegated legislation, imposing restriction on time upto which corrections can be made or even allowing conditional corrections. Nevertheless, putting the limitation of permitting corrections of only four characters has no rationale relation to the department’s anxiety of possible interest liability in case of the deductees.
