Repealing Obsolete Laws in Maharashtra
Setting the Context
Rule of Law is the cornerstone of any just and civilized society. It serves as the bedrock upon which democratic systems function. In the context of the supremacy of law and the functioning of democratic governments, it is imperative that citizens are aware of the laws they are subject to and have easy access to a concise, up-to-date repository of such laws.
Obsolete laws are laws that are irrelevant or have fallen in disuse over time. Obsolete laws clutter a state’s statute books. Citizens may be found in violation of these obsolete laws which could potentially lead to penalties. For a reliable and updated statute book, it is essential that States proactively and periodically declutter, update and revise their statute books by excising such obsolete laws.
Efforts to declutter and update statute books carry a long history in India that dates back to the colonial era. Post independence, the Law Commission, the P.C. Jain Commission and the Ramanujam Committee have also identified various obsolete central laws which only the State Legislatures are competent to repeal. In 2002, the Maharashtra State Law Commission also attempted to proactively suggest laws for repeal by the Maharashtra State Legislature. This led to a repeal of 376 laws in the State. Despite these efforts, Maharashtra continues to carry several archaic, outdated and irrelevant laws in its statute book, which can become potential avenues for confusion amongst citizens and misuse.
Our Study
In light of this, Vidhi Maharashtra has undertaken an independent exercise to identify obsolete laws that must be repealed by the Maharashtra State Legislature. This project will examine all laws in force in the state of Maharashtra. Given the substantial number of laws in Maharashtra, the findings of this project will be published in a series of reports. The first report in this series will examine all laws that were enacted before India’s independence on 15th August, 1947.
This report examines the legislative competence over each of these laws and determines whether they are in use or have become obsolete. Finally, it suggests whether these laws are to be repealed or retained. Where additional data points are required to determine whether these laws are in use or they are not available in the public domain, this report suggests that the State Government review these laws to determine obsolescence.
Key Findings
- Out of the 165 pre-independence laws that appeared to be in force, 40 laws have already been explicitly repealed. Despite them being repealed, such laws continue to appear on the multiple government databases. Therefore, 125 laws are in force.
- On mapping the legislative competence for laws in force, we discovered that the legislative competence of 69 laws lie with the Maharashtra State Legislature. The legislative competence of 20 laws lies with the Parliament and in 34 laws, the legislative competence was with the Parliament and the State Legislature as the subject matter pertained to a matter in the Concurrent List.
- Of the 125 laws that are in force, 80 laws are obsolete and 42 laws are in use. The Legislative competence for the 80 obsolete laws is given in the figure below.
Recommendations and The Way Forward
The presence of obsolete laws pose significant challenges to citizens and law enforcement agencies. An up-to-date statute book is crucial for the well functioning of any state. Vidhi’s finding in this report highlights the importance of regular review of laws by states to determine their relevance.
The report makes three categories of recommendations and provides explanations for the same:
- Repeal (47 laws);
- Retain (30 laws);
- Review (46 Acts)
The report also identified the Departments in the State machinery that enforce these laws in force. Of the 47 laws suggested for repeal, a significant number of Acts are administered by the Revenue and Forest & Law and Judiciary Departments.
Moving forward, the report also recommends the inclusion of a sunset clause in future laws that would provide for the automatic expiration of a law unless its continuance is notified by the legislature.
Filed Under
About the Authors
Jinaly is a Senior Resident Fellow and leads Vidhi Maharashtra. Her work focuses on providing research and drafting assistance to several Ministries of the Government of India and departments of the Maharashtra State Government on legal, regulatory and governance matters. Prior to joining Vidhi, Jinaly graduated with a B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) from the Jindal Global Law School in 2015 and worked at the leading Indian law firm S&R Associates. Thereafter, she completed an LL.M from the University of Cambridge in 2019. Beyond her areas of work at Vidhi, Jinaly is interested in history, politics, gender and sexuality. At Jindal Global Law School, she was a research assistant for the Centre for Health Law, Ethics and Technology for three years during which time she assisted on various research projects and a book on gender non-conforming persons in India. Jinaly has also co-authored a book "Hamīñ Ast?: A Biography of Article 370", which is a constitutional history of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.
Yeesha is a Senior Resident Fellow at Vidhi, Maharashtra. At Vidhi, she has been involved in projects relating to digitalisation of assessment and dispute resolution under the Income-tax and Goods and Services Tax Law. She has also worked on topics like taxation of cryptocurrencies, wealth-tax and the interplay between tax and investment protection regimes. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2016 and completed her LL.B from K.C. Law College, Mumbai in 2020. Before joining Vidhi, Yeesha worked in the Excise litigation team at Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys, Mumbai. She has also worked as a GST Trainee with Economic Law Practices, Mumbai where she provided consultancy services to clients from the real estate sector focusing on their smooth transition from the erstwhile Indirect tax regime to the GST regime.
Isha Prakash is a Research Fellow at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy’s Maharashtra team. She recently graduated from Government Law College, Mumbai and stood sixth in Mumbai University. As a student, she has worked at the Chambers of now-Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, now-Supreme Court Justice Karol and Justice G.S. Kulkarni as well as with organisations such as the Centre for Communication and Governance (NLU-D), Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, Majlis, etc. With a strong inclination towards constitutional law, gender justice and policy design, she has previously written for the Engenderings Blog by London School of Economics among others. Additionally, she has also served as the Chief Editor for the 90th edition of GLC's annual college magazine, méLAWnge, and as an International Editor for Cambridge Law Review and so on. In her spare time, she is a cinephile and volunteers to teach and work with underprivileged children.