Madras High Court Orders New PAN For Assessee After Dept-Issued Duplicate PAN Ruins CIBIL Score

The Madras High Court has directed the department to issue a fresh PAN (Permanent Account Number) to the assessee, who suffered adverse consequences because the defaulter holding the same PAN had a bad CIBIL. The bench held that the assessee cannot be made to bear serious CIBIL consequences arising from the Income Tax Department's duplicate PAN allotment. Justice C. Saravanan stated that the PAN that was allotted to the assessee on 18.05.2007 was also erroneously allotted to the said person, namely Subramaniyan Senthil S/o. Subramaniyan. Although the said person has been given a new identity, the mistakes committed by the said person have affected the assessee, as the identity of the assessee and his financial transactions are traceable to the PAN that was originally allotted to the assessee on 18.05.2007, which is in the cloud. In this case, the assessee/petitioner had originally applied for a PAN card and was issued a PAN on 18.05.2007. The same PAN was also allotted to another person on 17.05.2012, whose name was Subramaniyan Senthil S/o. Subramaniyan. The 2nd allottee, who was issued the same PAN number as the assessee, has availed a loan and defrauded the lenders and therefore enjoys a negative reputation in CIBIL. The assessee applied for loans. The financial institutions have declined to advance the loan to the assessee as there were several defrauds by the 2nd allottee, who incidentally has the same PAN. The assessee had earlier given a representation stating that fraud was being played using his PAN identity. The Income Tax Department issued a fresh PAN to the 2nd allottee. Since the old PAN with respect to which there is a negative remark in CIBIL, the assessee is still unable to avail any loan, as the assessee's PAN identity is still linked to the default committed by the said person. Hence, the assessee requested the department to issue a fresh PAN to him. The department has, however, relied on Instruction No.9 ITBA-PAN dated 25.03.2021 issued by the Directorate of Income Tax (Systems), New Delhi, as per which the first allottee will retain the PAN and the second allottee will be allotted with fresh PAN. The bench opined that the assessee cannot be made to suffer on account of the mistakes committed by the Income Tax Department. The bench stated that the said person, namely Subramaniyan Senthil S/o. Subramaniyan should have been allowed to continue with the PAN allotted, as the CIBIL remarks relate to that person. Instead, the assessee should have been allotted with PAN. In view of the above, the bench directed the department to issue a fresh PAN to the assessee as he does not have other due in the old PAN. Case Title: S. Senthil v. The Commissioner of Income TaxCitation: 2025 LiveLaw (Mad) 439 Case Number: W.P.No.21548 of 2022 Counsel for Petitioner/Assessee: S. Santhosh Counsel for Respondent/Department: Avinash Krishnan Ravi Click Here To Read/Download Order

Madras High Court Orders New PAN For Assessee After Dept-Issued Duplicate PAN Ruins CIBIL Score

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