Lok Sabha Clears Jan Vishwas Bill To Boost Ease Of Doing Business
The Lok Sabha has passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023, with the aim of promoting ease of doing business in the country.
The bill, which was passed on Thursday, seeks to decriminalise 183 provisions across 42 central legislations—such as the Information Technology Act, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and the Trademark Act.
The bill's passage is driven by an aim to ensure that businesses and government departments operate without fear of imprisonment for minor, technical, or procedural defaults. Another reason that necessitated its passage is that criminal consequences for minor defaults clutter the legal system, which delays the adjudication of more serious crimes by putting them on the back-burner.
Therefore, the bill seeks to establish a balance between the severity of the offence committed and the gravity of the prescribed punishment to ensure adherence to the law by businesses and citizens without losing the rigour of the law.
One of the major concerns of foreign investors when they consider investments or acquisitions in India is the criminal consequences arising out of the existing defaults of the company. Hence, the changes will enhance India's credibility as a global investment and manufacturing destination, Joebin Devassy, partner at Desai and Diwanji, told BQ Prime.
The legislature is clearly moving towards a legal framework where imprisonment is sparingly used and limited only to grave offences and a governance of Jan Vishwas i.e. a governance of trust, certainly helps reduce the burden on an already overburdened judiciary.Joebin Devassy, Partner, Desai & Diwanji
While the amendments impact different legislations, some such as the changes to environment legislations are quite progressive, Devassy said.
Under the bill, decriminalisation of offences will be undertaken in the following manner:
Both imprisonment and fines are proposed to be removed in some provisions, whereas in certain provisions only imprisonment is proposed to be removed while retaining the fine.
In some provisions, imprisonment is proposed to be removed while simultaneously enhancing the fines.
In certain provisions, both imprisonment and fines are proposed to be replaced by penalties instead. The difference between a fine and a penalty is that fines are imposed by courts after taking into account the facts and circumstances of the matter, whereas penalties are predetermined standards for non-compliance with legislation.
Lastly, it is proposed that few provisions will allow for compounding of offences. If an offence can be compounded, it means that the parties are at a liberty to settle and compromise outside the court.
To effectively achieve all this, the bill suggests measures like pragmatic changes to fines and penalties that make them proportional to the crime committed, the establishment of adjudicating officers and appellate authorities, and periodic increases in the value of fines and penalties.
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
