Govt identifies over 1,000 archaic laws

The government has identified over a thousand archaic laws which can be sent to the chopping block in the comings days to clear statute books of outdated Acts.
The Law Ministry, in consultation with other ministries, has identified 1,094 laws which can be repealed, sources said here.
To begin with, the Law Ministry has plans to bring a fresh bill in Parliament in the Winter session to repeal 287 obsolete statutes.
"While a bill is pending in Parliament to repeal 32 amendment Acts and four principal Acts -- a total of 36 Acts, we plan to bring another bill to repeal 287 similar Acts," Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said.

He said, "The government led by Narendra Modi is keen to repeal obsolete laws....We will take up the issue of repealing more such obsolete laws in the right earnest in the next session of Parliament."
The bill introduced in Lok Sabha during the Budget session to repeal 36 Acts is now with a Parliamentary Standing Committee which is expected to give its report ahead of the Winter session likely to begin in November.

Based on the recommendation of the Law Commission, the Ministry is also planning to carry out "legal scavenging" to repeal 700 Appropriation Acts which remain on statute books though they have lost relevance.

Sources said while there is a view that old Appropriation Acts can be repealed, the ministry will take a considered view.
The Law Commission has said that repealing Appropriation Acts whose terms have ended will in no way cause any negative impact on actions that were validly taken under these Acts. This itself would result in the repeal of more than 700 laws, the law panel had said.
Appropriation Act is intended to give authority to the government to incur expenditure from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in August constituted a separate committee to identify "obsolete" laws which, he believes, hamper governance by creating "avoidable confusion".

Out of the 1,382 Acts recommended for repeal by that committee, only 415 have been revoked so far.
On September 12, the Law Commission had recommended revoking 72 obsolete statutes, saying there is an "urgent need" to ensure that the legal structures are responsive to challenges of changing times.
One of the laws -- Bengal District Act -- recommended for repeal dates back to 1836. Several other laws recommended for revoking belong to period dating from 1838 to 1898.