Cabinet approves repealing of obsolete, redundant laws

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for introduction of the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2017 to repeal 105 Acts.

The two-member committee constituted by the PMO, the Law Commission of India and the Legislative Department identified 1824 redundant and obsolete Central Acts for repeal.

After careful examination and consultation with various Ministries/Departments in the Government of India, four Acts have been enacted to repeal 1175 Central Acts (during the period May, 2014 to August, 2016) by Parliament which are :

• The Repealing and Amending Act, 2015 (17 of 2015) repealing 35 Acts; The Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2015 (19 of 2015) repealing 90 Acts;

• The Appropriation Acts (Repeal) Act, 2016 (22 of 2016) repealing 756;

• Appropriation Acts including Appropriation (Railways) Acts;

• The Repealing and Amending Act, 2016 (23 of 2016) repealing 294 Acts.

Out of the aforesaid 1824 Acts, 227 Acts (including Appropriation Acts enacted by Parliament for the States under President's Rule) are identified to be repealed by State Governments have been requested to take necessary action to repeal them.

A list of remaining 422 Central Acts was circulated among all the Ministries/ Departments for their comments on repeal of Acts pertaining to their respective Ministries/Departments.

Till date, 73 Ministries/Departments including Legislative Department have given their comments whereby they have agreed to repeal 105 Acts and disagreed to repeal about 139 Acts.

On the basis of the comments/concurrence received from the Ministries/Departments, 105 Acts have been identified for repeal by this Department.