Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill 2026: Decriminalising Minor Offences to Ease Business and Living
The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026 has been passed by both Houses of Parliament, proposing amendments to 784 provisions across 79 Central Acts administered by 23 Ministries and Departments.
Of the 784 provisions, 717 are being decriminalised to promote ease of doing business, while 67 are amended to facilitate ease of living for citizens.
The Bill replaces criminal penalties — particularly imprisonment for minor, procedural, or technical violations — with graded monetary penalties, warnings, and civil enforcement mechanisms.
A Select Committee chaired by Tejasvi Surya held 49 sittings, submitted its report on March 13, 2026, and recommended expanding the scope of decriminalisation to cover 62 additional Central Acts beyond the original Bill.
The Bill provides for an automatic 10% revision of fines every three years, and introduces adjudicating officers and appellate authorities to resolve penalty disputes outside courts.
Decriminalisation of Economic Offences: Rationale and Approach
Criminalisation of minor regulatory violations — such as paperwork delays, labelling errors, or procedural non-compliance — imposes a disproportionate burden on businesses and individuals. Imprisonment provisions for technical defaults deter investment, create regulatory anxiety, and clog the judicial system with low-stakes cases. The global best practice, endorsed by economic reform bodies, is to use civil and administrative penalties for regulatory non-compliance while reserving criminal law for genuine fraud, harm, and public safety violations.
The 2026 Bill is the second major legislative push in a broader government strategy to rationalize the regulatory compliance burden. By shifting from criminal to civil enforcement for minor lapses, it signals that the state will use proportionate, not punitive, tools for most regulatory breaches.
Legislative Process: Select Committees in Parliament
When a Bill involves complex technical or policy questions, either House may refer it to a Select Committee of that House, or a Joint Committee of both Houses, for detailed examination. A Select Committee examines the Bill clause by clause, takes evidence from experts and stakeholders, and submits a report with amendments. The parent chamber then considers the report before passing the Bill. This process strengthens parliamentary scrutiny and deliberation.
The Select Committee process here substantially expanded the reform's scope — from 355 provisions in 16 Acts to 784 provisions in 79 Acts. This demonstrates how parliamentary committees can strengthen legislation beyond the government's original proposal.
Adjudication vs. Prosecution: Civil Enforcement Mechanisms
A key innovation in the Jan Vishwas framework is the introduction of adjudicating officers within the regulatory structure to determine penalties for minor violations, bypassing the criminal courts. Adjudicating officers — typically senior government officials — can inquire into violations, impose monetary penalties, and provide an administrative remedy. Their decisions can be appealed to a designated appellate authority. This creates a faster, specialised, and proportionate enforcement system.
Key Details
- Adjudicating officers: Appointed under amended Acts to inquire and adjudicate penalties for specified minor offences
- Appellate authorities: Designated bodies to hear appeals against adjudicating officer orders — courts are not the first resort
- Graded enforcement: First or second contravention may attract a warning or advisory; subsequent violations attract escalating monetary penalties
- Automatic penalty revision: Fines increase by 10% of the minimum amount every 3 years (unless the specific Act provides its own revision mechanism)
The shift to adjudication addresses a core inefficiency — minor regulatory violations currently tie up magistrate courts and expose businesses to arrest and prosecution risk that is disproportionate to the offence. The new mechanism provides certainty, speed, and proportionality.
Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940: Relevance to the Bill
The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 is the primary legislation regulating the import, manufacture, distribution, and sale of drugs and cosmetics in India. It prescribes rigorous standards for drug quality and empowers the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and State drug authorities to enforce compliance. The Act historically carried imprisonment provisions even for procedural violations involving cosmetics and non-spurious drug irregularities.
The health sector amendments illustrate the Bill's core logic — retain strict criminal law for genuinely harmful conduct (adulterated or spurious drugs), but remove the disproportionate threat of imprisonment for labelling errors or procedural cosmetics non-compliance.
- Jan Vishwas Act, 2023: 183 provisions decriminalised across 42 Central Acts, 19 Ministries
- Jan Vishwas Bill, 2026: 784 provisions amended across 79 Central Acts, 23 Ministries (717 decriminalised + 67 ease-of-living)
- Jan Vishwas Bill, 2025 (predecessor): 355 provisions across 16 Acts — referred to Select Committee, expanded to current scope
- Select Committee: Chaired by Tejasvi Surya; 49 sittings; report submitted March 13, 2026
- Penalty revision mechanism: 10% increase every 3 years automatically
- Health sector Acts amended: Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940; Pharmacy Act, 1948; Food Safety and Standards Act; Clinical Establishments Act, 2010; National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021
- Introduced in Lok Sabha by: Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Jitin Prasada