Jan Vishwas Bill 2026

Parliament has passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026, expanding decriminalisation across multiple laws. The reform aims to rationalise offences and shift toward a civil enforcement framework.

Jan Vishwas Bill, 2026:

Dimension	Key Details
Legislative Evolution	Expansion of Jan Vishwas Act 2023 which amended 183 provisions across 42 laws.
Scope	Amendment of 784 provisions across 79 Central laws and rationalisation of 1018 offences.
Decriminalisation	Decriminalisation of 805 offences by replacing imprisonment with civil penalties or warnings.
Omission of Offences	Removal of 125 obsolete or redundant offences.
Compounding	Provides for 35 offences being made compoundable allowing settlement through payment.
Punishment Rationalisation	Revision or reduction of penalties for 53 offences including removal of disproportionate punishments.
Enforcement Shift	Transition from criminal fines imposed by courts to civil penalties imposed by adjudicating authorities.
Types of Offences	Comprises outdated minor offences, general contraventions, procedural defaults, and obstruction-related offences.
Graded Enforcement	Provides for sequence of warnings, improvement notices, and penalties for repeated violations.
Coverage Sectors	Comprises industry laws, municipal governance, infrastructure, transport, and colonial-era laws.
Regulatory Context	Existence of 7305 offences across 370 Central laws with over 5333 carrying imprisonment provisions.
Significance	Reduction of overcriminalisation, improvement in ease of doing business, and promotion of trust-based governance.