Odisha govt clears proposals to decriminalise minor offences, allow women to work in all factories

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Cabinet on Friday evening approved 15 proposals of 10 departments, including an ordinance to decriminalise minor offences, and another to enable women to work in factories at any hour, officials said.

The proposals were cleared at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi here.

In a move to bring legal reforms and promote trust-based governance, the state government approved the Odisha Jan Vishwas Ordinance, 2025, which seeks to decriminalise minor and procedural regulatory offences, rationalise penalties, and ease compliance, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja said.

The ordinance aligns with the Centre’s Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023, which advocates replacing criminal sanctions for non-serious defaults with proportionate civil penalties, he said.

Under the new framework, imprisonment for minor procedural lapses will be replaced by graded civil penalties, and administrative adjudication will ensure faster resolution of disputes.

This is expected to reduce court backlogs, litigation costs, and regulatory uncertainty for both businesses and citizens, Ahuja said.

“The ordinance covers a wide range of sectors, including labour, trade, taxation, cooperative societies, fire safety, and municipal administration,” an official release said.

The reform harmonises Odisha’s laws with recent central legislations like the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and will strengthen investor confidence by fostering transparent, predictable, and citizen-friendly governance, it said.

The cabinet also approved the promulgation of the Factories (Odisha Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, aimed at accelerating industrial development and attracting new investments to the state.

The ordinance has provisions like extended working hours entailing a maximum of 10 hours per day or 48 hours per week, with the workers’ written consent. It also permits work without an interval for up to six hours, providing flexibility for specific categories of factories.

It also enables women to be employed in all types of factory work, including before 6 am and after 7 pm, subject to their written consent and adherence to prescribed safety measures, the release said.

Overtime wages have also been restructured, with a daily cap of 12 hours and weekly limits maintained.

The move is expected to provide industries with operational flexibility, enhance ease of doing business, and promote employment generation, the officials said.

Besides, the cabinet gave the go-ahead to the ‘Swachha Odisha’ scheme with an outlay of Rs 1,600 crore for five years from the 2025-26 fiscal.

Ahuja said the scheme aims to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of sanitation efforts in the state by consolidating various initiatives into a unified framework.

The proposals also included the construction of an in-stream storage structure, an intrastate river linking scheme and another scheme of the Water Resources Department.