The central government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that a ‘certificate of identity’ issued by a district magistrate under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 will be treated as a valid document for applying for a PAN card.

A bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah said the Union of India has in principle accepted this request and the Union government may consider incorporating it in the rules as well in order to bring clarity.

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“During the pendency of this petition, we sought a reply from Union of India, who has been very supportive in this matter and by and large has accepted all the demands which have been raised in the present petition including the one, that the certificate to be issued under Section 6/7 of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 will be acceptable, if it is given by the district magistrate,” the bench said.