The Income Tax department, which has decided to outsource services for allotment of permanent account number cards to over 2.5 crore (25 million) Income Tax assesses, will rope in UTI Investor Service Limited for the purpose.

Concerned over the flak it received from the assesses regarding defective and delayed issue of PAN cards, the finance ministry has already sent to a Letter of Intent to UTI and a memorandum of understanding would be signed soon, a senior finance ministry official told PTI.

Stating that the move was part of the efforts to tone up tax administration in the light of the Kelkar panel report, the official said Finance Minister Jaswant Singh gave the final nod to the proposal on the New Year eve.

Pan cards that have already been issued will be valid and those who have not received it so far, will be issued the new cards by UTI Investor Service Limited within 10 days, the official said.

Fresh forms will be issued by the UTI Investor for those who have not yet got the card, the official said, adding the pending forms with the tax department will also be processed by the company.

The official said the move had been taken after the government made it mandatory for quoting of PAN numbers in certain transactions.

The ministry also plans to divest the powers of calculation and subsequent refund to the Income Tax payees to the UTI Investor Services Limited.

The official said that within a stipulated time, the UTI Investor would be handling the accounts of the Income Tax payees in the country and ensuring that the customer got his refund within 120 days of filing returns.

Setting at rest speculations about the capability of the UTI Investor Services Limited to handle such a daunting task, the official said: "The reason for this decision was the sense of security of the tax payer."

"The chairman of the government-owned UTI is also the chairman of the UTI Investor Service Limited," the official said.