CBDT issued an order under section 138(1)(a) of the Income-tax...

CBDT issued an order under section 138(1)(a) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, superseding its earlier 2016 directive, designating the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) as the specified authority to furnish taxpayer information to the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. The order establishes a framework requiring MoP&NG to provide Aadhaar numbers or PANs with assessment years, whereupon DGIT (Systems) must respond with income tax return filing status and threshold income verification for amounts exceeding ten lakhs. Where Aadhaar-PAN linkage is absent, unavailability flags must be provided. The arrangement requires modification of existing MOU provisions covering data transfer protocols, confidentiality maintenance, and information preservation mechanisms between the revenue department and petroleum ministry.

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