The Delhi High Court has directed tax authorities to require biometric Aadhaar authentication for all GST registration applications, aiming to combat widespread fraud and fake registrations nationwide.
The Delhi High Court has told tax authorities that no new Goods and Services Tax registration should be granted unless the applicant completes biometric-based Aadhaar authentication, in a step aimed at curbing a fraud that the court said has been enabled by misuse of stolen or frozen identity details. The order, passed by a division bench led by Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Shail Jain on petitions involving alleged fake registrations in the names of innocent taxpayers, applies across the country for now.
In its ruling on September 8, the bench pointed to figures disclosed in Parliament showing thousands of fraudulent GST registrations and large-scale tax evasion in recent financial years. The court said the problem had persisted despite assurances that biometric Aadhaar checks would be required for registration, and it found that the measure had not been fully put into practice. That gap, it said, had allowed fake registrations to continue using PAN and Aadhaar information belonging to other people.
The court also said the central authorities had not shown that a nationwide biometric requirement would be unworkable. It noted that the fraud was harming both the public exchequer and citizens who had nothing to do with the bogus registrations. The bench gave the authorities leave to raise objections if they face practical difficulties in implementing the directive, and set the matter down for further hearing on September 22.
The order adds judicial pressure on a system that, according to the court, has struggled to stop fraudulent registrations nearly nine years after the CGST Act came into force. Reports of the hearing say the bench viewed the issue as one of revenue protection and citizen harassment, while also highlighting a mismatch between the government’s stated policy and how registration checks have been carried out in practice. The ruling could now force a wider overhaul of GST onboarding procedures if the direction is maintained.
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