(a) whether the Government has developed a mechanism to identify and repeal obsolete legislations in the Country;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the importance of repealing obsolete legislations in the country; and
(d) the total number of laws repealed since 2014 till date?
MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONIC & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SANKAR PRASAD)
(a) to (d): Yes, Sir. The present Government had constituted a Two-Member Committee to identify the obsolete and redundant laws for repeal in 2014. The said Committee had examined and identified 1824 obsolete Acts (including 229 State Acts) for repeal and submitted the report to the Government. The said 229 State Acts have been forwarded to the respective State Governments for repeal. Thereafter, the Legislative Department took up the matter with the concerned Ministries/Departments of the Government to examine and review the Acts administered by them.
Repealing of obsolete legislations is an important commitment of the government for achieving the larger objective of “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance”. This has improved the ease of doing business environment in India and has reduced the burden of compliances for general public as well as businesses. This has also helped in reducing litigation by bringing greater clarity about legal provisions. So far 1486 obsolete and redundant laws have been repealed by the Government of India since 2014.