The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has designated the Director General of Income Tax (Systems), Delhi as the specified authority for responding to certain income-tax verification requests from the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoP&NG).
The authorisation was issued through an Order dated September 15, 2026, bearing F. No. 225/305/2016-ITA.II (Part), under Section 258(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, read with Section 536(2)(j). The order replaces the earlier order dated June 17, 2025, issued under the Income-tax Act, 1961.
Under the arrangement, MoP&NG will provide the concerned individual's PAN and/or Aadhaar number, along with the applicable Assessment Year/Tax Year, to the designated income-tax authority. The DGIT (Systems) will provide responses through a “Yes/No/Not Available” format rather than disclosing detailed tax records.
The verification mechanism will cover specified information, including:
- Whether an Income-tax Return (ITR) has been filed.
- Whether the individual is a Government servant.
- Whether total income exceeds the threshold agreed under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
- Whether income tax remains payable after considering the applicable rebate.
- Whether Professional Tax has been paid.
If an Aadhaar number supplied by MoP&NG cannot be matched with a PAN in the Income Tax Department's database, the DGIT (Systems) will communicate that the requested information is unavailable because of the absence of PAN-Aadhaar linkage.
MoU to Regulate Information Exchange
The information-sharing process will be governed by an MoU between the DGIT (Systems), Delhi and the notified authority of MoP&NG. The agreement will specify arrangements for data transmission, confidentiality, secure retention and subsequent disposal or weeding of information.
The MoU will also establish the timeframe for responding to information requests, based on consultations between the DGIT (Systems) and the notified MoP&NG authority. A copy of the executed agreement is to be submitted to the relevant Department of Revenue division for record purposes. CASansaar