Jan Vishwas Bill: Commerce Ministry wants departments to consider withdrawing cases involving minor offences

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has asked all ministries to consider withdrawing ongoing cases related to minor crimes in light of Jan Vishwa’s amendment bill, as this will significantly reduce the burden on the judiciary and improve ease of life, a senior official said on Friday (April 3, 2026).

Parliament on Thursday (April 2) passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026, which amends 784 provisions in 79 central laws to decriminalize and rationalize around 1,000 minor offenses to further improve the business environment and control harassment of people.

“Due to the changes that have come up in the law, there is a larger situation where all these provisions may come under scrutiny. We will also meet the law ministry and work on how this can be conveyed to the concerned departments,” Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary Amardeep Singh Bhatia told reporters in New Delhi.

He said that as part of an overall initiative to reduce the burden on the courts, the government had advised all departments to review pending cases and withdraw prosecution where possible.

“There is a general advisory board to review all pending cases, and when ministries think they should be withdrawn because they are not very critical crimes, they can apply to the court to have it withdrawn,” he added.

Addressing the media on the passage of the bill, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that as per estimates, there are five pending cases related to minor crimes and majority of them should never go to courts.

“We hope that all this can be resolved by the prosecutors by asking the courts to close these cases on the basis of new convictions, so that a huge relief can be brought to the past cases… We will request the courts to take orders on these petty crimes and put an end to it,” Mr. Goyal said.

“Those 1,000 segments, in one way or another, nationally, regionally, were a source of uncertainty, a source of potential rent-seeking and harassment. We removed all of that,” he said.

The minister also said the government was open to further proposals for further re-examination of all laws at the central government level.

“12 states have published their own bills decriminalizing Jan Vishwa’s laws and I encourage the remaining states to follow suit and decriminalize minor crimes,” he added.

The draft envisages the abolition of imprisonment in 57 articles and the abolition of fines in 158 articles. In addition, it was proposed to reduce prison sentences in 17 sentences, and to convert prison sentences and fines into penalties in 113 sentences.

It also proposes 67 amendments under the New Delhi Municipal Council Act, 1994 and the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 to facilitate ease of living.

Mr. Goyal expressed hope that municipal bodies in other states will take cues from these proposed changes and amend their laws to improve ease of living.

Additionally, Mr Bhatia said penalties are only given for a first offense of violating air pollution standards, but the license will be suspended for three months.

But he added that stricter provisions would apply for subsequent violations.

Similarly, noise pollution has been decriminalized for the first offense and only given a warning, while the usual provisions will apply for subsequent offences.