Mumbai: Mumbai Congress president
Kripashankar Singh, a major contender for a ministerial berth
in the Ashok Chavan government, may land in trouble following
revelation that his affidavit for the 2004 and 2009 assembly
elections contained different PAN card numbers.
Singh's affidavit, posted on the Election Commission's
website, gives his Income Tax PAN number declared in 2004 as
AVAPS1485L, while in 2009 election, it is CFYPS989P.
According to IT sources, the nomenclature - Permanent
Account Number - is self-explanatory that it cannot change
during the holder's lifetime. Any change in the address or
city would entail a change in the assessing officer but not
the number.
Sources said that Singh could be prosecuted under the
provisions of the IT Act if it was proved that he had
deliberately violated the law. If two PAN cards with varying
numbers are issued to a holder erroneously by the department,
he has to return one of them, they said.
While Singh was unavailable for comments, when
contacted, state's Chief Electoral Officer Debashish
Chakrabarty curtly said, "I cannot respond to such queries."
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, November 05, 2009, 22:55