Delegated legislation empowers the executive at the cost of legislative certainty. Discuss with reference to the amendment of Section 10A of the PSS Act, 2007.

Delegated legislation lets Parliament fix a law's broad framework while leaving details to executive notification. The Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which rewrites Section 10A of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, illustrates both the flexibility this buys and the predictability it costs [1][2].

How the amendment empowers the executive

• Section 10A originally barred any bank or system provider from imposing a charge on payment modes prescribed under Section 269SU of the Income-tax Act, 1961 — a statutory zero-MDR guarantee [2].
• The amendment removes this blanket prohibition and empowers the Central Government to notify which electronic modes may attract a charge [1].
• The gain is agility: Merchant Discount Rate is a technical, fast-moving variable, poorly suited to primary law that needs a fresh Bill to revise.
• Comparable delegation already lets the executive calibrate the ecosystem — the ₹1,500 crore incentive scheme for low-value BHIM-UPI (P2M) transactions was rolled out administratively [3].

The cost to legislative certainty

• A protection a merchant could earlier read directly off the statute now rests on a notification alterable without parliamentary debate.
• Pricing and investment decisions of banks, fintechs and small merchants shift from enacted text to ministerial discretion.
• Assurances that consumers and person-to-person transfers stay free are politically, not legally, binding [1].
• Ambiguity breeds misinformation — government had to publicly rebut false claims of GST on UPI transactions above ₹2,000 [4].

Available safeguards

• The Committee on Subordinate Legislation (Lok Sabha, since 1953) examines whether rules conform to the parent Act's object [5].
• Mandatory laying of notifications before both Houses, and judicial review against excessive delegation of essential legislative functions.

Delegation is indispensable in a technology-driven economy, but its legitimacy depends on the leash Parliament retains. Anchoring core protections in the statute, prescribing pre-notification consultation, and strengthening subordinate-legislation scrutiny would preserve executive agility without diluting the certainty citizens expect from law.