According to the data compiled by the Legislative Department of the Law Ministry, with the passage of two bills in Parliament, 125 archaic laws have been repealed.
Another two bills are pending Parliamentary approval. Once these bills are cleared, another 945 laws will be repealed. "We have identified 1,871 more laws which have lost relevance today. We plan to bring bills to get them repealed," Secretary, Legislative Department in the Law Ministry, Sanjay Singh said.
This is the first time since 2001 that such an exercise is being undertaken by the Law Ministry in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's agenda to do away with "archaic" laws which were "hindering efficient governance".
These bills are part of a periodical measure by which enactments that have ceased to be in force or have become obsolete or the retention as separate Act is unnecessary are repealed, the Law Ministry had said in one of the Cabinet proposals to repeal archaic laws.
Between 1950 and 2001, over 100 Acts were repealed.
A bill to repeal 758 Appropriation Acts, including Railways (Appropriation) Acts, which have lost relevance and are clogging the statute books was introduced in Lok Sabha recently. A large number of Appropriation Acts passed in the past several years have lost their <g data-gr-id="38">meaning</g> but these are still shown on statute books. <g data-gr-id="34">Appropriation Acts are</g> intended to operate for a limited period of <g data-gr-id="36">time ?</g> authorising expenditures for the duration of one financial year.
Though these Acts are not usually included in any list of Central Acts, either by the Law <g data-gr-id="31">Ministry,</g> or elsewhere, these laws still technically remain in the books. The Bill also provides repeal of 111 State Appropriation Acts enacted by Parliament between 1950 and 1976. These Acts provide budgetary support to states and were enacted when the states were under President's Rule.