Jan Vishwas Amendment Bill gets Rajya Sabha nod

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023 that seeks to decriminalise various offences and convert several fines into penalties in 42 laws. The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023 was passed by Rajya Sabha by a voice vote following a discussion in the absence of the Opposition party members. The Lok Sabha had cleared the legislation on July 27.

Besides decriminalisation of minor offences, the bill envisages the rationalisation of monetary penalties, depending on the gravity of the offence and bolstering trust-based governance. Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said the bill will promote the ease of doing business by decriminalising several provisions. «This Jan Vishwas Bill is the beginning not the end.

This is our first effort, more will follow,» he said, adding that the Know Your Approval on the ministry's single window system has all these details and amended provisions to help investors. As per the Jan Vishwas Bill, 183 provisions in 42 Acts of Parliament related to 19 departments were decriminalised. The bill proposes measures such as pragmatic revision of fines and penalties commensurate to the offence committed, establishment of adjudicating officers, establishment of appellate authorities, and periodic increase in quantum of fine and penalties.

Goyal said the joint committee of both houses comprising 31 MPs had nine sittings and the government accepted six of the seven recommendations it made. «Only the recommendation on retrospective amendment we didn't agree with...It was a good recommendation if you ask me. It would have straight away decreased one crore cases,» Goyal said.