The Income Tax Department will share PAN & Bank account details of any entity with ten investigative and intelligence agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation and the National Investigation Agency, under the integrated counter-terrorism platform NATGRID, according to an official order.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes, which frames policy for the Income Tax Department, said in a July 21 order that information like a permanent account number (PAN), Tax Deduction & Collection Account Number (TAN), bank account details, summary of IT Returns & tax deducted at source (TDS) & "any other information as mutually agreed" will be shared with the ten agencies.
The "furnishing & receiving of information to & from" these central agencies will be done through the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), a robust mechanism envisaged to track suspects & prevent terrorist attacks with real-time data & access to classified information like immigration, banking, individual taxpayers, air & train travels.
The ten agencies are: the CBI, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, ED, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Cabinet Secretariat, Intelligence Bureau, Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Narcotics Control Bureau, Financial Intelligence Unit and the National Investigation Agency.
These agencies are already authorised to obtain real-time NATGRID data as part of a legal arrangement made in the past.
The CBDT order said, "While furnishing the information, the specified income-tax authority shall form an opinion that sharing of such information is necessary for the purposes of enabling these agencies/bodies to perform its functions under their respective laws".
It said that the CBDT & the NATGRID will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to finalise the latest information-sharing mechanism.
According to a senior Officer, the tax department & the NATGRID already have an agreement for sharing PAN-related information since 2017 & the new measure is a step forward for better & confidential sharing of the data between all the probe & intelligence agencies so that they are better enabled to analyse & counter any armed, financial or cyber threat to the country.
The necessity for the NATGRID came after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks exposed the deficiency that security agencies had no mechanism to look for vital information on a real-time basis.
Lack of quick information was considered to be one of the major hurdles in detecting US terror suspect David Headley's movement across the country during his multiple visits between 2006 & 2009.
Headley had provided key information & videos of terror targets to Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba that carried out the attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people including foreigners.
The Cabinet Committee on Security had given approval to the Rs 3,400-crore NATGRID project on April 8, 2010 but its work slowed down after 2012.
However, PM Narendra Modi later directed for its revival.
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