Repealing and Amending Act, 2019
Parliament of India
  • An Act to repeal certain enactments and to amend certain other enactments.
CitationAct No. 31 of 2019
Territorial extentIndia
Passed byLok Sabha
Passed29 July 2019
Passed byRajya Sabha
Passed2 August 2019
Assented to8 August 2019
Commenced8 August 2019
Legislative history
First chamber: Lok Sabha
Bill titleThe Repealing and Amending Bill, 2019
Bill citationBill No. 188 of 2019
Introduced byRavi Shankar Prasad
Introduced25 July 2019
Repeals
58 Acts
Related legislation
Status: In force

The Repealing and Amending Act, 2019 is an Act of the Parliament of India that repealed 58 Acts. It also made minor amendments to the Income Tax Act, 1961 and The Indian Institutes of Management Act, 2017. The Act was the sixth such repealing act aimed at repealing obsolete laws tabled by the Narendra Modi administration, and the first tabled during its second term. The government had repealed 1,428 Acts during its first term between 2014 and 2019.

Background and legislative history

Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocated for the repeal of old laws during his 2014 general election campaign. At the 2015 Economic Times Global Business Summit, Modi stated, "Our country suffers from an excess of old and unnecessary laws which obstruct people and businesses. We began the exercise of identifying unnecessary laws and repealing them. 1,877 Central laws have been identified for repeal."[1]

The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2019 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 25 July 2019 by the Minister of Law and Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad. The bill sought to repeal 58 Acts and pass minor amendments to two Acts. The amendments were made to substitute certain words in the Income Tax Act, 1961 and The Indian Institutes of Management Act, 2017.[2][3] Moving the bill for a vote in the House on 29 July, Prasad stated that the Modi administration had repealed 1,428 "old and archaic Acts" during its first term. The Minister also noted that most of the laws being repealed were enacted before independence and that only 1,929 old laws had been repealed between 1950 and 2004. Prasad also urged the House to pass the bill unanimously.[4][5][6]

Speaker Om Birla asked the House whether the bill could be passed unanimously. Congress MP for Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor requested the Speaker push the vote on the bill to the next day and instead permit an hour-long discussion. In response, the Speaker permitted Tharoor to speak for ten minutes and stated that the vote would be held afterwards. Tharoor sought changes to some provisions of the Indian Penal Code including those concerning sedition. Prasad replied that he disagreed with Tharoor's demand to repeal the sedition law. In the subsequent vote, the bill was passed unanimously by the Lok Sabha.[4][5]

Prasad moved the bill in the Rajya Sabha on 2 August. He stated, "I would urge the House that this is the initiative in the right direction. I would urge this House and through this House the entire country and state governments that periodic review of obsolete and irrelevant laws must become a part of good governance."[7] Bharat Rasthra Samithi MP K. Keshava Rao expressed concern over the repeal of The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 2014 and The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 2015. Prasad responded that the state's interest were protected as the provisions of the amendments had been incorporated into the main Act.[8]

The Minister also responded to a suggestion to repeal The Cinematograph Act, 1952 stating that he agreed with the idea having previously served as Minister of Information and Broadcasting. However, he noted that "the film community should have one voice on this". Other members who participated in the discussion included Jaya Bachchan (SP), Prashant Nanda (BJD), Subhashish Chakraborty (AITC), Amee Yajnik (Congress), A. Navaneethakrishnana (AIADMK), Kahkashan Perween (JD-U), K. Somaprasad (CPI-M), Binay Visham (CPI), Bhupendra Yadav (BJP), Veer Singh (BJP) and Ram Kumar Verma (BJP). The bill received support from members across party lines and was passed by the Rajya Sabha through voice vote.[8]

The bill received assent from President Ram Nath Kovind on 8 August, and was notified in The Gazette of India on the same date.[9]

Repealed Acts

The 58 Acts included in the bill's First Schedule were completely repealed.

№ Year Act No. Short title
1 1850 XII The Public Accountants' Defaults Act, 1850
2 1881 XI The Municipal Taxation Act, 1881
3 1892 X The Government Management of Private Estates Act, 1892
4 1956 69 The Terminal Tax on Railway Passengers Act, 1956
5 1958 56 The Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly(Constitution and Proceedings) Validation Act,1958
6 1960 22 The Cotton Transport (Amendment) Act, 1960
7 1963 1 The Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (Amendment) Act, 1963
8 1963 35 The Dramatic Performances(Delhi Repeal) Act, 1963
9 1964 10 The Public Employment (Requirement as to Residence) Amendment Act, 1964
10 1968 49 The Delhi and Ajmer Rent Control (Nasirabad Cantonment Repeal)Act, 1968
11 1973 56 The Alcock Ashdown Company Limited (Acquisition of Undertakings) Act, 1973
12 1976 55 The Iron Ore Mines, Manganese Ore Mines and Chrome Ore Mines Labour Welfare Cess Act, 1976
13 1976 61 The Iron Ore Mines, Manganese Ore Mines and Chrome Ore Mines Labour Welfare Cess Act, 1976
14 1976 62 The Beedi Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1976
15 1980 68 The Tea (Amendment) Act, 1980
16 1981 62 The Aligarh Muslim University (Amendment) Act, 1981
17 1982 63 The Road Transport Corporations (Amendment) Act, 1982
18 1983 41 The Transformers and Switchgear Limited (Acquisition and Transfer Undertakings) Act, 1983
19 1988 22 The Tamil Nadu Agricultural Service Co-operative Societies(Appointment of Special Officers) Amendment Act, 1988
20 1999 3 The High Denomination Bank Notes(Demonetisation) Amendment Act, 1998
21 2001 39 The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2001
22 2001 48 The Registration and Other Related Laws(Amendment) Act, 2001
23 2002 16 The Institutes of Technology(Amendment) Act, 2002
24 2002 43 The Delhi University (Amendment) Act, 2002
25 2007 3 The Dalmia Dadri Cement Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Amendment Act, 2006
26 2007 28 The Central Road Fund (Amendment) Act, 2007
27 2009 21 The Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2009
28 2009 22 The Central Industrial Security Force (Amendment) Act, 2009
29 2009 38 The Central Universities (Amendment) Act, 2009
30 2010 3 The Civil Defence (Amendment) Act, 2009
31 2011 6 The Repatriation of Prisoners (Amendment) Act, 2011
32 2011 14 The Customs (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2011
33 2012 28 The National Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 2012
34 2012 34 The Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 2012
35 2014 8 The Governors (Emoluments, Allowances and Privileges) Amendment Act, 2014
36 2014 9 The National Institute of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Act, 2014
37 2014 19 The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 2014
38 2014 20 The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Act, 2014
39 2014 31 The Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Act, 2014
40 2014 32 The Merchant Shipping (Second Amendment) Act, 2014
41 2014 39 The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Act, 2014
42 2015 2 The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Amendment Act, 2015
43 2015 3 The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2015
44 2015 5 The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Act, 2015
45 2015 10 The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015
46 2015 12 The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 2015
47 2015 14 The Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Act, 2015
48 2015 16 The Warehousing Corporations (Amendment) Act, 2015
49 2015 21 The Companies (Amendment) Act, 2015
50 2016 10 The Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2016
51 2016 13 The High Court and the Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 2016
52 2016 25 The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016
53 2016 42 The National Institute of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Act, 2016
54 2016 45 The Central Agricultural University (Amendment) Act, 2016
55 2016 48 The Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Act, 2016
56 2017 19 The National Institute of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Act, 2017
57 2017 21 The Collection of Statistics (Amendment) Act, 2017
58 2017 25 The Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2017

References

  1. ^ "| NITI Aayog".
  2. ^ "The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2019". PRSIndia. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  3. ^ "Chapter At A Glance". PRSIndia. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Lok Sabha passes bill to scrap 58 archaic laws". The Financial Express. 29 July 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Lok Sabha passes bill to repeal 58 obsolete Acts in 15 minutes". Zee News. 29 July 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  6. ^ "LS passes Bill to repeal 58 obsolete Acts in 15 mins". www.aninews.in. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  7. ^ "Parliament passes Bill to repeal 58 obsolete laws". Hindustan Times. 2 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Parliament approves bill to scrap 58 archaic laws". The Times of India. 2 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  9. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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