NEW DELHI: The Centre has told the Supreme Court that a “certificate of identity” issued by the district magistrate under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 will be treated as valid documentation for applying for a PAN card.
The court was hearing a 2018 plea filed by a transgender alleging that her attempt to link her PAN with Aadhaar has failed as the PAN card has no ‘third gender’ option unlike the Aadhaar card.
Reshma Prasad, a social activist from Bihar, had sought a direction to the Centre to create a separate third gender category option on PAN cards to enable transgenders like her to link it with Aadhaar.
The bench said the Centre has in principle accepted this request, and the government may consider incorporating it in the rules for clarity.