Cabinet Said to Have Approved Amendments to Jan Vishwas Bill to Decriminalise Minor Offences

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday believed to have approved amendments to the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023, which seeks to decriminalise minor offences by amending 183 provisions in 42 Acts with a view to promote ease of business, sources said.

It proposes to amend 183 provisions across 42 Acts administered by 19 ministries. The bill came up for discussions in the cabinet meeting today, they said.

The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill was introduced by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal in the Lok Sabha on December 22 last year. After that, the bill was referred to a joint committee of parliament.

The committee has held detailed discussions with all the 19 ministries or departments along with the legislative department and department of legal affairs. It adopted its report in March this year, which was laid before Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha that month.

The parliamentary panel had suggested the Centre to encourage states and Union Territories to undertake the exercise for decriminalising minor offences on the lines of Jan Vishwas Bill, with a view to promoting ease of doing business and living.

It had stated that the government should amend the provisions with retrospective effect as it would help in reducing the backlog of court cases.

The committee had also recommended that wherever feasible removal of imprisonment may be accompanied by levying of penalty instead of a fine to avoid an increase in litigation.

Besides seeking decriminalisation of minor offences, the bill also envisages the rationalisation of monetary penalties, depending on the gravity of the offence, bolstering trust-based governance.

The Acts which are being amended include The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940; Public Debt Act, 1944; Pharmacy Act, 1948; Cinematograph Act, 1952; Copyright Act, 1957; Patents Act, 1970; Environment (Protection) Act, 1986; and Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

The other laws include Trade Marks Act, 1999; Railways Act, 1989; Information Technology Act, 2000; Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002; Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006; Legal Metrology Act, 2009; and Factoring Regulation Act, 2011.

These 42 laws are administered by various Union ministries, including finance, food production and distribution, financial services, agriculture, commerce, environment, road transport and highways, posts, electronics and IT.