A retrospective amendment to the Income-Tax Act, 1961, clarifying the role of the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO) vis-à-vis the Faceless Assessment Officer (FAO), has triggered fresh litigation across the country. Multiple High Courts are now set to hear petitions challenging the validity of this move.
Following directions from the Supreme Court, at least three such petitions were filed this month in the Bombay, Karnataka, and Punjab & Haryana High Courts, challenging the retrospective changes made through the Finance Act. This latest round of litigation follows the top court’s direction to petitioners to bring the legislative clarification to the attention of their respective High Courts regarding disposed matters.
The Core Controversy
The dispute centers around two primary issues:
- Who possesses the authority to issue income-tax reassessment notices?
- The legal validity of notices issued under the post-2021 faceless regime.
While the Finance Act, 2021, introduced Section 151A to mandate "faceless" assessments for increased transparency, many notices continued to be issued by jurisdictional (physical) officers instead of the centralized faceless unit. Taxpayers challenged these notices, arguing that JAO assessments lacked legal authority under the new regime. High Courts have issued conflicting rulings on whether this constitutes a "curable procedural lapse" or a "fundamental jurisdictional error" that renders a tax demand void.
Legislative "Reset"
To clear the air, the Finance Act now specifies that the Assessing Officer for the purposes of Section 148 and Section 148A "shall mean and shall always be deemed to have meant Assessing Officer other than the National Faceless Assessment Centre or any of its assessment units".
Corresponding amendments have been made to the Income-Tax Act, 1961 (effective retrospectively from April 1, 2021) and the Income-Tax Act, 2025 (effective from April 1, 2026). According to the explanatory memorandum for the Finance Bill, 2026, these changes were intended to achieve certainty and clarity while minimizing litigation. The government is effectively legitimizing past actions by local jurisdictional officers that were previously being struck down by courts.
Expert Concerns and Future Outlook
Experts have raised significant concerns regarding this move:
- Legislative Overreach: Shaily Gupta, Partner at Khaitan & Co, described it as a "classic case of the Legislature trying to 'win' a pending legal battle by changing the rules mid-game," suggesting it deepens uncertainty.
- Constitutional Scrutiny: Ashish Agrawal, Partner at Dhruva Advisors, noted that the core issue going forward will be whether such retrospective legislative validation regarding jurisdiction can withstand constitutional scrutiny.
- Step-by-Step Process: Richa Sawhney, Partner–Tax at Grant Thornton Bharat, observed that by sending the matter back to High Courts, the Supreme Court has ensured the issue is examined through the proper legal process while allowing taxpayers to continue their challenges.
The controversy is expected to enter an extended phase of litigation as multiple High Courts independently examine the validity of the amendment.
How content creators are making curiosity ‘cool’
By Chitra Narayanan
Turn to Instagram and scroll through the inevitable food, beauty and entertainment reels, and suddenly, the algorithm seems to be shifting. Popping up more and more frequently are fun quizzes and trivia tests by both global and Indian creators. For instance, handles like @thedropapinshow and @bradythetutor test your knowledge about countries in the most entertaining way. Closer home, there are handles like @AreyPataHai, run by Mohit Mamoria and Nipun Jain, @abhiandniyu, run by Abhiraj Rajadhyaksha and Niyati Mavinkurve, and @kk.creates, run by Kavya Karnatac, that flood you with interesting facts and trivia.
Knowledge is showing up in new formats, and curiosity has become very cool thanks to smart creators on the internet. Even niche areas are covered, such as @2Bunkars, where saree retailers Nasir Iqbal and Kasif Iqbal ask questions about the six-yard drape. Ace quizzer Joy Bhattacharjya agrees that social media has given a fillip to quizzing by reaching new, focused audiences who might enjoy trivia sessions on specific topics like the IPL, Harry Potter, or BTS.
Brand consultant Giraj Sharma points out that quizzing is growing in both the digital and physical worlds. Trivia game nights, a very American phenomenon, are now seen at places like Monkey Bar and Social as a way of boosting footfalls and engagement.
A Successful Accident
Mohit Mamoria of @AreyPataHai is currently riding high after his trivia-packed book, ***What the… What?!***, became a No. 1 bestseller through pre-orders alone. Mamoria notes that quizzing has become a new group activity for friends and families who are tired of just going to movies or stand-up comedy shows.
The creation of @AreyPataHai was entirely accidental; Mamoria and Jain started it during a lean patch at their content agency. Puzzling and quizzing had been their "love language" since they first started chatting online, and after they put a camera in front of themselves, they never looked back. They are now touring the country with a 90-minute "standup-trivia" special, which frequently sees sold-out shows.
Monetisation and Brand Value
Trivia content can be successfully monetised. Mamoria and Jain are supported by memberships, revenue from their book, and an upcoming game project. Interactive tools like story stickers and lead-generation funnels help these creators boost engagement and gain sticky followers.
Brands are increasingly reaching out to "quizfluencers" because it lifts a brand's intellectual quotient and provides a credible vehicle for embedding brand content subtly. As Sharma notes, quizzing makes a brand appeal to a target audience's cognitive quotient while serving as a perfect platform for building brand identity.
WPI effect on new GDP series
By R Gopalan and MC Singhi
The new national accounts, or GDP, series with a 2022-23 base year raises the question of whether the deflators being used are accurate. Inaccuracies on account of the use of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) with an outdated base year seem to persist in the new series.
The Deflator Dilemma
The new NAS series 2022-23 uses double deflators, moving away from the single deflators used in the NAS 2011-12 series. However, the issue of appropriate deflators persists, principally due to the "WPI effect". WPI is used as the deflator for over 50 per cent of the NAS value added. As a commodity index with a 2011-12 base, it has a fixed basket and base, which causes it to lose its representative character as it becomes dated.
While studies on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) have shown a downward bias in growth rates once a series becomes dated, similar studies for the WPI are unavailable because alternative measures for comparison do not exist. Experts suggest such index series should be revised every five years to remain effective.
WPI Trends and Representativeness
An analysis of two approaches considers the current representativeness of the WPI:
- Comparison with GDP Deflator: From 2015-16 to 2020-21—a period covering demonetization, GST reforms, and the pandemic—the WPI for all commodities remained moderate. During this time, the GDP deflator generally stayed between the WPI and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). However, in 2017-18, the GDP deflator was higher than both. This suggests the deflator is influenced more by WPI for primary articles and intermediates rather than final products, potentially leading to under-reporting of inflation for capital and consumer goods.
- Inflation Range Analysis: The number of commodities with inflation below 2 per cent increased to 447 in 2025-26 (April-February), representing a weight of approximately 63 per cent. This indicates that the commodity composition is shifting away from being representative, often due to declining response rates or a repeat of previous quotations.
Inflation Dynamics
The increasing number of commodities showing negative inflation may largely be due to products that have ceased to report. During the April-February 2025-26 period, 526 commodities (93% weight) had inflation up to 2 per cent, and 277 commodities (over 53% weight) had negative or zero inflation. This further indicates that the WPI has become less representative as a key deflator.
Consequently, the real GDP growth was only marginally lower than the nominal GDP growth, and the deflator fell to a historic low of less than 1 per cent.
The Path Forward
The authors argue that a new series of WPI should be operationalized quickly and eventually replaced by a comprehensive Producer Price Index (PPI). This shift would address the appropriateness of commodities and deflators. Until then, the new NAS series will continue to be not fully reflective of actual economic growth.
Data Highlights (Table 1): Inflation & GDP Deflator Trends (Selected years, in per cent)
| Year | WPI (All) | CPI | GDP Deflator | GDP Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | -3.69 | 4.88 | 2.28 | 7.41 |
| 2020-21 | 1.31 | 6.15 | 4.81 | 3.87 |
| 2022-23 | 9.40 | 6.65 | 5.90 | 9.69 |
| 2025-26* | 2.13 | 1.94 | 0.97 | 7.57 |
*April-February data
Process deficit
Delimitation Bill fell in the absence of consultation April 20, 2026
The defeat of the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha raises questions about why a special session of Parliament was convened in the midst of Assembly elections to hastily pass a highly contentious Constitutional amendment. Given the sensitivity of the issue, it should’ve been obvious that such a Bill would not pass the Lok Sabha amidst elections in a couple of the very States that would be undercut by its provisions.
Yet, political calculations seem to have been behind the move, as seen by how Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately launched into the Opposition for what he called “female foeticide”. The fallen Bill was a radical departure from the existing Constitutional scheme freezing the number of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies based on the 1971 census. Currently, no increase in the total number of seats can occur until the first census after 2026 is published.
Key Proposals of the Bill
The 2026 Bill proposed several significant changes:
- Omitting the Seat Freeze: It sought to omit provisions in Articles 82 and 170 that enforce the current seat freeze.
- Redefining "Population": It proposed using "population figures of the latest published census," which would have allowed the government to use 2011 census data to increase seats immediately.
- Expansion of Seats: It proposed expanding the Lok Sabha to 850 seats (815 from States and 35 from Union Territories).
- Accelerating Women's Reservation: It sought to amend the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam to de-link the 33 per cent women's reservation from the requirement of a post-2026 census, potentially allowing implementation before 2029.
Constitutional Principles and Historical Context
While the principle of “one person, one vote, one value” (Article 81(2)(a)) justifies seat expansion based on population, successive governments—including the one led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee—maintained the seat freeze to protect the representation of specific regions. This freeze prevented the representation of five southern States from falling from 24.3 per cent to 20.7 per cent, while stopping a 5 per cent increase in northern State representation.
A Need for Consensus
The government's attempt to accelerate implementation by tethering women’s reservation to the 2011 Census failed to address the anxieties of southern States. This process must be a "masterclass in trust-building" and cannot be achieved by forcing amendments during an active election cycle.
For the government, the defeat of this Bill represents an unusual setback. It highlights the limits of pursuing major reforms without adequate consultation and consensus-building. The episode underscores the importance of dialogue and institutional integrity in advancing transformative legislation; future efforts must be based on a wider political consensus.
When the grid becomes an all-knowing data system
By N Nagaraj
The transition to renewable energy is remaking India’s power grid at a level that generation capacity figures do not capture. Integrating variable solar and wind power at scale requires continuous, real-time data exchange between generation sources, storage systems and grid operators. Battery storage must respond to grid signals within milliseconds.
Demand response, peer-to-peer energy trading and distributed generation require the grid to function as an information system. Each of these capabilities connects what engineers call operational technology to information networks. The equipment that manages voltage, frequency and power flow, previously isolated from external networks by design, is now networked by operational requirement. Every new connection extends the boundary of what is reachable from outside.
The draft National Electricity Policy (NEP), 2026, addresses this shift through two contrasting mandates. Section 14 proposes that data should be physically located within India, explicitly including battery management systems. Section 13 requires the same sectoral entities to share their operational and market data under regulatory safeguards to enable AI applications, analytics and innovation.
Territorial control over the data layer is the objective of one; circulation of that data is the objective of the other. The India Energy Stack, named in Section 7 as a foundational framework for interoperable energy systems and financial settlements, is the architecture intended to hold both requirements together.
Embedded Security
Battery management systems illustrate how the security logic works at the component level. A battery management system continuously monitors cell behaviour: charge and discharge rates, thermal conditions, capacity degradation and grid response characteristics. For a grid-scale installation, this data constitutes a detailed operational map. Under NEP 2026, the security requirement is embedded in technical specification: operational intelligence on grid behaviour under stress cannot be routed to servers outside Indian control.
The supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems running India’s load despatch centres present a structurally difficult problem. These are continuous operational systems managing live grid infrastructure, sourced from vendors including ABB, Siemens and GE Vernova. NEP 2026 proposes that the Grid Controller of India Limited and State load despatch centres endeavour to transition to indigenously developed systems by 2030.
This transition requires replacing live control systems on infrastructure that cannot be taken offline, against a four-year timeline, with a domestic software and hardware supply chain that does not yet exist at the required scale or reliability. The policy’s governing logic remains clear: open at the data layer, sovereign at the infrastructure layer.
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