On 02 August 2023, the Indian Parliament passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023 (Bill), which proposes to amend and/ or decriminalise 183 provisions in 42 Central Acts administered by 19 different Ministries/ Departments, with the aim of boosting the ease of doing business as well as ease of living. The Bill establishes a balance between the severity of the offence/violation committed and the gravity of the prescribed punishment.
The Acts proposed to be amended include the Information Technology Act, 2000, Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991, Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, Trade Marks Act, 1999, Patents Act, 1970, Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, Copyright Act, 1957, Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002, High Denomination Banknotes (Demonetization) Act, 1978 and others.
The Bill proposes measures such as, a pragmatic revision of fines and penalties commensurate to the offence committed, establishment of Adjudicating Officers and establishing Appellate Authorities; and a periodic increase in the quantum of fines and penalties.
Set out below are a few highlights of the Bill:
- The Bill has omitted Chapter 10 of the Indian Post Office Act, 1898 which stipulates penalties and procedures for misconduct of persons employed to carry postal articles, delaying postal articles, fraudulently unpaid postal articles, and so on.
- Contraventions related to driving regulations, obstructing the free flow of traffic and producing false registration document are to be made compoundable under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
- The Patents Act, 1970, has been amended to replace fines which may extend to INR 100,000 (Indian Rupees One Hundred Thousand) with penalties which may extend to INR 1,000,000 (Indian Rupees One Million).
- The High Denomination Banknotes (Demonetisation) Act, 1978 has been repealed in its entirety.
- The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 are amended to include various penalties for contraventions to the Acts.
- The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 has been amended to include a new chapter, adding the Environmental Protection Fund.
- Under the Information Technology Act, 2000, several offences have been decriminalised by imposing higher monetary penalties. Section 66A of that Act is omitted which stipulated punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service.
- The Bill provides that the fines and penalties under various provisions in the aforementioned 42 Central Acts would be increased by 10 percent of the minimum amount of fine or penalty, as the case may be, every 3 years, from the date of notification of the Bill.
The Bill is now awaiting the Presidential Assent and Gazette Notification.
The press release of the Bill can be accessed at:
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1945263#:~:text=The%20Jan%20Vishwas%20
A copy of the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023 can be accessed at: