[Resolved]  Income Tax PAN Service — Application for Pan card

I would like to raise my grievance against the Income Tax Pan Services unit of National Securities Depository Ltd. regarding my application for a new PAN card. I submitted my application in September 2012 but have as yet not received the card. Instead I seem to be receiving emails from NSDL citing unreasonable requests that in some instances do not reflect the information and documents already submitted from my end to them.

I am an NRI based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. I submitted my application via the above-mentioned acknowledgement in September of 2012 along with the demand draft dated September 14, 2012 for RS. 962 in favor of 'NSLD-PAN' and relevant supporting documentation for proof of identity (copy of Indian passport) and proof of address (bank statement accounts).

I received an email from NSDL on September 28, 2012 acknowledging receipt of my application and stating that they had not received my demand draft, the proof of residence did not match the one cited on my application and that the bank statements I submitted were not attested by the relevant authorities. Please note that I did submit the right document for proof of address which was my bank statements. It seems to me that their inept staff failed to notice that I check marked my communication address as my office and not my residence and hence was required to submit only the proof of office address. Moreover the need to submit attested bank statements did not occur to me since nowhere on the NSDL website was that information requested. I proceeded to contact their call center and after unsuccessfully trying to explain my situation was told that the demand draft had indeed been received but the bank statements would still have to be attested.

Thereafter I attempted to attest my bank statements at the Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi, which is a lengthy process in itself. The embassy refused to attest my bank statements unless they were first attested by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who would only attest it if it was attested by the UAE Central Bank and my concerned bank. Since I had no other option, I got my statements from all the afore-mentioned entities. Kindly note that this whole process cost me a whopping RS. 9,300 approx and lasted more than a month given the nature of the process!

I then mailed the attested statements by register mail to NSDL, Pune on November 20, 2012. I contacted the NSDL call centre on January 17, 2013, since I had not received any reply regarding my application. I spoke with a Ms. Satwinder who explained that the proof of address on my application did not match the ones on my bank statements. She further did not clarify if she had received my attested bank statements. Upon verifying with her she eventually told me that she did have the attested copies of the statements in her possession but there was confusion on the proof of address. I had to repeatedly convince her that my address for communication was my office address which was evidenced by the address on the bank statements. Moreover, I do not possess any proof of residential address as I live with my parents in Abu Dhabi. We lease an apartment and the lease is in my father's name. I cannot provide any proof because unlike the mailing system in India, postal mail is delivered at post offices to post boxes that we rent out. So, in effect, there is no document that can verify my proof of residence. Even the mail for my father gets delivered to his office post box number that is then hand delivered to him by his office mail clerk. She went on to suggest I resend my documents altering my proof of residence to my office address! To which I asked her who would bear the additional costs of a new application as well as the cost for attesting documents. After not being able to provide me with a suitable solution, Ms. Satwinder transferred me to her team leader, a Mr. Anil, who on first instance suggested the same option of resubmitting a new application with false information as my residence address to expedite the application. When I told him I was not going to pay the costs all over again, he suggested I get an employment letter from my company, again attested by the Indian embassy here to evidence my office address because even the bank statements that supported that information was not acceptable by them. I am in the process of securing this document which will take time being a tedious process, and will cost me a further RS. 3,150.

On January 30, 2013, I received another email from NSDL reverting back to the same issue of proof of residence not matching the residential address on application in spite of clearing this issue with the NSDL call centre staff! Moreover the email stated that my bank statement had not been attested by the relevant authorities! I was shocked to receive the email given I had mailed the same on November 20, 2012 and have the receipt for the registered mail.

To be truthful, I am appalled at the manner in which my application has been handled. For an entity that initiates this service on behalf of the Indian Income Tax Department, the NSDL certainly needs a lesson or two in best practices.
As a law abiding citizen I chose to follow the legal process in securing my Pan card. However, it is my contention, now, that I should have resounded to the scrupulous means of getting it done though a qualified Chartered Accountant in India who would have gladly gotten it for me in a mere RS. 250 and without the strenuous process described above. All in all, I have spent RS. 13,500 and am not sure how much more I will have to spend before i can receive my PAN card.

Though I am in the process of securing my attested employment letter for proof of office address to be mailed to the NSDL as soon as I secure it, I would appreciate if the Indian Consumer Complaint department would mediate on my behalf to expedite this much delayed process. Such ineptitude from a government entity is highly unacceptable reflecting a thoroughly backward and unprofessional system.