The government on Monday introduced Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025 in Lok Sabha that will amend 355 provisions of 16 central Acts to enable ease of doing business and ease of living.
The Bill, introduced by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and was referred to the Select Committee. The committee will submit its report on the first day of the Winter session, according to a statement issued here.
Wide-ranging reforms across key Acts
The Acts that the Bill seeks to amend are administered by ten ministries and departments. Of the 355 provisions that are to be amended, 288 relate to the ease of doing business and 67 will facilitate ease of living.
The Acts that the bill seeks to amend are Reserve Bank of India Act, Drugs and Cosmetics Act, The Central Silk Board Act, The Motor Vehicles Act, The Road Transport Corporations Act, The Apprentices Act, The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act, The Electricity Act, The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act and The Legal Metrology Act among others.
The amendment through the Bill proposes to insert a section in the RBI Act which says that if any non-banking financial company fails to produce any book, account or other document which it is required to do or answer any question put to it, a penalty not exceeding Rs 1 lakh in respect of each offence may be imposed. If it persists in such failure or refusal, a further penalty not exceeding Rs 5,000 for every day after the first will be levied, during which the default continues. Currently, the penalty for such lapses is Rs 10 lakh, with further fines of Rs 1 lakh/day.
Motor Vehicles, Apprenticeship reforms in focus
Similarly, under the Apprentices Act, 11 offences like employer requiring an apprentice to work overtime without approval of Apprenticeship Adviser, refusal to furnish information or return, employing apprentice on work which is not connected to his training are proposed to be converted to advisory for the first contravention and with censure or warning or penalty for every subsequent contraventions. Currently, these offences are punishable with a fine of Rs 1,000.
Proposed changes in the Motor Vehicles Act will allow for state-wide vehicle registration instead of jurisdiction-specific. The reporting period for vehicle registration cancellation will be extended from 14 to 30 days and driving licence renewal will be effective from date of renewal if applied after expiry. Grace period of 30 days after licence expiry will also be provided.
The Bill proposes to replace imprisonment clauses for minor, technical or procedural defaults with monetary penalties or warnings and advisory or warning for 76 offences under 10 Acts for first time contraventions. Penalties made proportionate, with graduated penalties for repeated offences and designated officers empowered to impose penalties through administrative processes, reducing judicial burden.
Under the Bill it has been proposed to automatic 10% increase every three years to maintain deterrence without legislative amendments.
This exercise builds on the success of the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023 — the first consolidated legislation to systematically decriminalise minor offences across multiple Acts. The 2023 Act, notified on 11th August 2023, decriminalised 183 provisions in 42 Central Acts administered by 19 Ministries and Departments.
