No stay on MDR but SC asks under what law was it imposed

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court Monday asked the Centre, RBI and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to explain under which provision of law the merchant discount rate (MDR) on UPI transactions was imposed, even though it refused to stay its implementation from Oct 15."Is it a tax or a fee? If it is not a tax or a fee, then what is the executive scope of making this expropriation on transactions? What is the character of this expropriation?" asked a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana while hearing a PIL that argued that MDR charges on UPI transactions would make people revert to cash dealings, which would encourage accumulation of black money.Additional solicitor general N Venkataraman (ASG) said MDR is not a tax or a fee, nor an expropriation as govt will not get even a paisa from it.