Highly-placed sources in the Income Tax Department confirmed to The Indian Express that the date was being extended as a result of tremendous response to the scheme and that the department was finding it difficult to cope with the large turnout applying for PAN in all the Income Tax regions in the country as the existing deadline of April 30 reached the penultimate day today.

In Pune region alone the first stock of 2.5 lakh forms for applying for PAN in Form 49 A has been already exhausted and the department is printing several hundreds forms everyday to make them available for the common public, said Jitaindra Mehra, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Pune region.

``There is tremendous response among the public for filing the application for PAN card and the department is inundated with hundreds of queries on telephone and personal visits made by the eligible tax payers and common public in general to gather more information on the scheme,'' said Mehra.

Applying for the PAN card is mandatory for all the eligible tax payers who fulfil any of three criteria laid down by the department. According to the criteria any existing income-tax payer or assessable to tax; or carrying on any business or profession whose total sales or turnover or gross receipts exceeding Rs 50,000 in a financial year; or trustee required to file return on behalf of the trust is required to apply for the PAN in Form 49 A, if the person has not applied or has not been allotted the same under the new series.

Kiran Oberoi Vasudev, Additional Commissioner of Income Tax (Systems), Pune region, said that in Pune city a total number of 65 assessing officers were carrying out the operation of accepting application forms for PAN.

Significantly, the number of people applying for PAN is expected to touch the astronomical figure as even the higher echelons at the department appear in no mood to confine their calculations to a definite number.

``As the eligibility criteria for applying for PAN includes every individual whose annual turnover exceeds Rs 50,000, the exact percentage of population fulfiling this criterion will obviously be a very large number,'' said Vasudev.

While on one hand the deadline for applying for PAN is being extended the I-T Department is also gearing up to tighten its noose on the defaulters by slapping penalties on the people who are eligible for PAN and fail to apply for the same before the deadline expires.

``Applying for PAN is mandatory for everyone who fulfils any of the three criteria. Non-compliance will obviously result in punitive action. As per the provisions in the law the penalty can vary from Rs 500 to Rs 10,000,'' said Vasudev.