Members in the Lok Sabha in the Parliament, in New Delhi. For representational purposes.
Credit: PTI File Photo
New Delhi: Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill seeking to repeal or amend 71 obsolete and outdated laws with a view to enhancing ease of living for citizens.
Piloting the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2025, in the Rajya Sabha, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said it aimed at removing outdated laws, correcting errors that had crept in during the law-making process and removing discriminatory aspects of certain laws.
The Bill was passed by voice vote in the Rajya Sabha. It was earlier approved by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Replying to the discussion on the legislation, Meghwal said that one of the main aims of the Bill was to enhance the ease of living for citizens.
"We give priority to ease of living along with ease of doing business," the minister said, adding that if laws have become obsolete, the government would bring legislation to repeal them.
The minister said that under the Indian Succession Act, 1925, if a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain or Parsi made a will in the then Madras, Bombay and Calcutta presidencies, it had to be probated, while a similar provision does not apply to Muslims.
"Why not Muslims? Will there be no consideration over it? This is the Narendra Modi government and the country will function according to the Constitution," he said, adding that any discrimination on the basis of religion, caste and sex is prevented by the Constitution.
"These reforms are a step towards liberation from a colonial mindset," he added.
Vivek K Tankha (Congress) disagreed with the minister that the bill was aimed at freeing from the colonial mindset, alleging that the government had only done paperwork to complete technical formalities without assessing the impact of the Bill on people on the ground.
The Bill seeks to repeal 71 Acts, including the Indian Tramways Act, 1886, the Levy Sugar Price Equalisation Fund Act, 1976, and the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (Determination of Conditions of Service of Employees) Act, 1988.
It also seeks to amend four Acts -- the General Clauses Act, 1897, the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, to update terminologies for registered posts, and the Indian Succession Act, 1925, to remove the requirement to obtain validation of wills by courts in certain cases.
Besides, the Bill also amends the Disaster Management Act, 2005, to rectify a drafting error.
Meghwal said since 2014, 1,577 old archaic laws have been either repealed or amended, out of which 1,562 archaic laws have been repealed and 15 have been reenacted.
Participating in the discussion, Subhash Barala (BJP) said people have been suffering due to the old laws, and it will remove the hindrances faced by them.
Sushmita Deo (AITC) said this was an opportunity for course correction for the government to see which provisions of laws were working against civil liberty, democracy and dissent.
KRN Rajeshkumar (DMK), Subash Chandra Bose Pilli (YSRCP), Niranjan Bishi (BJD), M Thambidurai (AIADMK), A A Rahim CPI(M), Haris Beeran (IUML), Madan Rathore (BJP), Ramji (BSP), Ashok Kumar Mittal (AAP), Kalpana Saini (BJP) and Mahua Maji (JMM) also participated in the discussion on the Bill.