TIN Required for Revenue Licences, Then Walked Back in 4 Days — Real Policy or Panic?

From November 1, every revenue licence application or renewal needed a Taxpayer Identification Number, tied to a September circular meant to link vehicle ownership to the tax net. By November 4, the Finance Ministry walked it back, saying NIC details at the Divisional Secretariat would do instead — no TIN needed for now, at least temporarily. One side: this was always about catching people who own several vehicles, rent them out, or run unregistered taxi and van fleets without ever filing taxes — tying ownership to a TIN makes sense when the state is broke and everyone else is already paying up. Other side: rolling out a nationwide rule and reversing it four days later says it was never thought through — ordinary owners spent the first week of November worried about extra paperwork and queues for nothing, and nobody's sure if TIN is cancelled or just paused until the next circular. Did you or anyone you know get turned away or delayed getting a licence in those first few days? And if TIN comes back later, do you think it'll actually catch undeclared vehicle income, or just annoy people who already pay their taxes? වාහන බලපත්‍රෙට TIN අනිවාර්ය කළා, දවස් හතරකින් ආයෙත් අයින් කළා - ඇයි මෙහෙම පැනලා වැටෙන්නේ?