Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on December 22 tabled the 108-page Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2022 in the Lok Sabha.
Key points
- The bill proposes to decriminalize 183 provisions in 42 legislations including over half a dozen colonial era laws to make doing business easier.
- 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 bill decriminalizes minor offences and envisages the rationalization of monetary penalties.
- It proposes a 10% increase in the minimum amount of fine and penalty levied, after every three years of enactment of the Act.
- Settlement of a large number of issues by compounding method, adjudication and administrative mechanism, without involving courts will enable people to remedy minor contraventions and defaults, sometimes committed unknowingly, and save time, energy and resources.
