Link bank accounts to Aadhaar by April 30: I-T dept

April 12, 2017

New Delhi, Apr 12: Accounts opened from July 2014 to August, 2015 will have to submit know your customer (KYC) details and their Aadhaar number to banks and financial institutions by April 30 and self-certify them to comply with FATCA regulations (Foreign Tax Compliance Act), the tax department said on Tuesday.

In case the account holders are unable to furnish details and provide self-certification by the new deadline, banks and financial institutions have the option of blocking the accounts.

Once the details are furnished they can operate the accounts. The provision applies to accounts which come under the ambit of FATCA regulations.

Banks and financial institutions were asked to obtain self-certification and carry out due diligence for all individual and entity accounts opened from July 1, 2014 to August 31, 2015 to comply with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) pact signed by India and the United States.

In July 2015, India and the US signed a tax information sharing agreement under a new US law, FATCA, aimed at bolstering efforts for automatic exchange of financial information between the two nations about tax evaders.

"The account holders may be informed that, in case self-certifications are not provided till April 30, 2017, the accounts would be blocked, which would mean that the financial institution would prohibit the account holder from effecting any transaction with respect to such accounts," the tax department said in a statement.

Tax officials said that the accounts would include banks, insurance, stocks. Account holders will also have to mention their Aadhaar numbers.

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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