2024 (10) TMI 753 - HC - Income Tax

Same PAN number allotted to two different persons - Income Tax Department issued Permanent Account Number (PAN) to the petitioner and later on the same PAN number was also issued to respondent No.6, who has obtained loan and is a defaulter, therefore, due to same PAN number, CIBIL score of petitioner has been affected adversely - Petitioner aggrieved by consequence of the same as CIBIL rating of the petitioner comes down due to financial condition of respondent No.6. - During the pendency of present petition, mistake was corrected by Income Tax Department HELD THAT - Grievance of petitioner in respect of issuance of PAN card of same number to respondent no.6 has already been resolved. However, petitioner is at liberty to approach the authorities concerned for correction in CIBIL credit score of petitioner. As the ambiguity arose due to erroneously assigning same PAN number to two persons, it is directed that Income Tax Department shall forward a letter to Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd. (CIBIL)/respondent No.5 informing about the issuance of same PAN number to petitioner as well respondent No.6 and clarifying the position, within a period of one month from the date of receipt of copy of this order. In the letter, Income Tax Department shall intimate to respondent No.5 that the department has already issued new number to respondent No.6 and the department is not having any objection in correction of CIBIL score of petitioner.

Summary

The petitioner's grievance was that the Income Tax Department issued the same PAN number to both the petitioner and another person, affecting the petitioner's CIBIL score. The Department corrected the mistake, canceled the duplicate PAN, and instructed the other person to replace it in all documents. CIBIL acknowledged the issue and stated that the credit score could be corrected upon receiving information from the banks. The High Court directed the Income Tax Department to inform CIBIL about the issuance of the same PAN number to both parties and allowed the petitioner to seek correction of their credit score. The petition was disposed of with no costs.