Bill to repeal 90 Acts introduced in LS

Moving ahead with ridding statute books of obsolete laws, a bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha today to repeal 90 amendment Acts, including one which changes the law relating to salaries of members of Parliament.
Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda introduced The Repealing and Amending (Second) Bill, 2014, which seeks to remove certain Amendment Acts from the statute books as they have outlived their utility.
In the Monsoon session, government had brought a similar bill to repeal a total of 36 Principal Acts and Amendment Acts which are now considered redundant. That Bill is now pending with a Parliamentary Standing Committee.

This is the first time since 2001 that such an exercise is being undertaken by the Law Ministry.
Through the bill, government also seeks to "rectify" the mistake that had "inadvertently" crept in at the time of the enactment of the Railways (Amendment) Act, 2008 and the Indian Maritime University Act, 2008.
The Bill makes it clear that once the measure becomes an Act, it will not affect any other law in force.

The Amendment Acts which are sought to be repealed include the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Act, 2010, The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2008, The Wakf (Amendment) Act, 2013 and the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2012.

"The Bill is one of those periodical measures by which enactments which have ceased to be in force or have become obsolete or the retention whereof as separate Act is unnecessary are repealed or by which the formal defects detected in enactments are corrected," said the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the bill.
The move is in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's agenda to do away with archaic laws. He is of the view that such laws and rules hinder efficient governance.
Between 1950, when the Republic came into being, and 2001 over a hundred Acts have been repealed.