A Tale of 2 PAN Cards
After a 3 month struggle, I received my new PAN Card last week. Phew!
Well, it was not that the old one I had had gotten lost or something! It is just that it (the original itself) looked like a photocopy and was not getting accepted as original by even the ticket examiners in Indian Railways or by the policemen in airport entrances. That it had a photo that in no way resembled me did not help. Well, none of the important documents (passport, electoral card, driving license etc) has a proper photo of mine. I hope at least when I get my UID with iris & finger-print scans I will not be suspected by the officials! Well, a hope. All that is a subject worth another article altogether. For now, about the PAN Cards alone!
I had first applied for my PAN card in early 2001 but did not receive it till 2003. Sometime in 2003, I visited the IT Department office in Queen’s Road. The official there made my stand in an awkward posture (if you have seen the “evolution from monkey to man” pictures on the net, this posture would be somewhere in the middle - actually like the second one in the picture above, with clothes though!!), used a web-cam on his desk (like the one they use to do emission check on motor-bikes) to take a photograph, printed it on a black & white inkjet printer with a toner low warning, laminated it right there and gave it to me in 10 minutes flat. No wonder it caused me so much humilation over 8 years. Nothing comes easy in life.
After a recent round of humiliation by a train ticket examier, I decided to take it seriously and get a new PAN card with a good(!) photo of mine. Well, there are clear guidelines in this site and I was very glad to have found it. I quickly filled up the stuff there, paid off the 90 odd bucks they charge and within minutes, it was all done. All I had to do was to send my photograph with the acknowledgement number to an address in Pune and I am done! A new PAN card would come in a week and no more humiliations by ticket examiners and policemen in the airports. The same evening I sent across those. Happy I was.
But not for long.
A week later, I received a mail as below:
This is with reference to your PAN Application made vide acknowledgement no. 881030204141872. In this context, please note that we
have observed following discrepancy(ies) in your application.
1) Photograph provided is not proper for scanning. - Affix recent colour photograph (3.5 cm *2.5 cm) on a separate paper and submit to NSDL.
Please note that your PAN application will be processed only on receipt of the above said requisite documents.
Since the photograph in my courier had exactly the same spec like above, I was thoroughly confused. Was it because I should have just pinned the photograph and not pasted it? Was it because the size was not this? Was it because the acknowledgement number should not be written in the same page & be written separately in another paper? Should I have brushed my teeth one more time before I sent the courier? And so on.
Anyways, I decided to go to the neighborhood GK Vale and confirm if the size was same (well, I do not trust the measurement scale at home anymore). The guy at GK Vale said the size was right. So this time I sent it again but taking all precautions - pasting one, pinning one and mentioning the ack number separately in a post-it etc.
A week later, I received this mail
This is with reference to your PAN Application made vide acknowledgement no. 881030204141872. In this context, please note that we
have observed following discrepancy(ies) in your application.
1) Photograph provided is not proper for scanning. - Affix recent colour photograph (3.5 cm *2.5 cm) on a separate paper and submit to NSDL.
Please note that your PAN application will be processed only on receipt of the above said requisite documents.
Do not bother to scroll up & read the one above. The emails were exactly the same.
Further confused, I called their helpline. A helpful lady there explained that size of the photo was perfect, it does not matter where you write the acknowledgement number and it should indeed be pasted & not pinned. Then? She said, the background in the photograph was the issue - it should not be white!! I was supposed to have understood this from those mails.
So there I went to GK Vale again, had the background of that photo ‘colored’ (luckily a soft copy was available), printed new 2.5 * 3.5 copies and sent them again. A week later, I got this mail:
This is with reference to your PAN Application made vide acknowledgement no. 881030204141872. In this context, please note that we
have observed following discrepancy(ies) in your application.
1) Photograph provided is not proper for scanning. - Affix recent colour photograph (3.5 cm *2.5 cm) on a separate paper and submit to NSDL.
Please note that your PAN application will be processed only on receipt of the above said requisite documents.
Naturally, I got wild. Called up the helpline and expressed my helplessness in comprehending the English. The helpful lady checked out the photograph, confirmed everything was right, had no clue why the ‘scanning’ team had rejected it and said she would send it to them again.
A few days later, I received this mail (read it this time, a new one):
With reference to your call/mail regarding documents submitted for processing your PAN application. In this connection, we wish to inform you that your Photograph is re-verified (as per your request) but again it found to be invalid due to following
· Photo not proper: The re-submitted Photograph is also improper to scan (image is not clear & also eye part is not clear due to spec worn). You may request that kindly sent us the clear Photo (hard copy) by affix on the Ack receipt or on the blank paper by quoting the correct 15- digit Ack no. to enable us to further process your application.
Note: Applicant may request please do not use Stapler Pin to affix the photo.
The same photograph was acceptable for Korean visa, European (Schengen) visa and a South African visa but not for PAN card - Image not clear, Eye part not clear etc etc. Grrr!
So once again, go to GK Vale, get a new photograph with no spectacles (remember to have a dark background), print it out, go to a temple, remove all kinds of doshas in it, pray to the Gods of all religions and send it across. After reaching home, find out that the size of the photograph was actually 3.5*4.5. Grr. Curse the Gods now and wait for the next mail. A week later, cometh the mail.
This is with reference to your PAN Application for ‘Request for New PAN Card Or/And Changes or Correction in PAN data’ made vide acknowledgement no. 881030204141872 dated 07/03/2011 . We have received your application form along with supporting documents and found them to be in order. Accordingly, your application has been processed and forwarded to the Income Tax Department (ITD).
The PAN Card will be dispatched at your communication address.
Moral: Sending wrong sized photographs is acceptable if you pray to God.
A week later, I have my new PAN card at home - like a smart card, in full color!!
But.. but… Everytime I travel by train or visit the airport, I would need to remove my spectacles.
