Govt set to decriminalise minor offences for EoDB

New Delhi: The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will soon seek Cabinet approval for a bill to decriminalise minor offences by rationalising related provisions under different ministries to ensure ease of doing business.

According to an official, the department is in the final stages to approach the Cabinet for The Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2022 as it is targeting to introduce the Bill in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament. The bill proposes to rationalise about 110 provisions across 35 Acts administered by 16 ministries/departments.

Explaining the rationale behind the proposed legislation, the official said that taking the reform agenda to the next level, the government is focussing on reducing the overall compliance burden for businesses and citizens. For this, a four-pronged strategy -- simplifications, digitisation, decriminalisation of provisions for minor offences, and elimination of redundant laws/rules -- has been adopted to deliver the desired objectives of this initiative.

"After a comprehensive consultation with all the key stakeholders, the department has finalised the bill and soon it will seek Cabinet nod on that," the official added. The DPIIT has received reports and recommendations from the industry bodies related to archaic criminal provisions existing in laws. "The bill seeks to decriminalise imprisonment provisions related minor offences to trivial procedural violations from 35 Acts.

About 110 such provisions are proposed to be amended through this one bill. The department has observed that these provisions have not been invoked many times, but there is fear in the minds of industry about those provisions," official added.