Answer:

Rule of law is the defining principle of a well-functioning modern democratic polity. The essence of good governance is upgrade the statute books as per demands of market, state and society; for rule of law to operate, statute books must be free from ambiguities, repetitions and redundancies. In India cumbersome statute books are often misused and result in pernicious rent seeking legal system.

♤ Sensing the need to revamp the legal system, government announced its intentions to repeal obsolete laws. It observed that these laws should be repealed on account of three reasons—they are redundant having outlived their purpose, have been superseded by more current laws, or pose a material impediment to growth, development, governance and freedom.

♤ Subsequent to government announcement, the 20th law commission initiated project titled the Legal Enactments Simplification and Streamlining (LESS) aimed at preparing various reports on the laws, rules, regulations which need to be repealed or amended.

Law commission observed that-

♤ There are over 300 colonial-era enactments in force in India. Many of these are redundant, not implemented, and sometimes even misused. The subject matter of these Acts is now governed by laws enacted post-Independence, which are much more in tune with contemporary realities.

♤ Many British era levies are now replaced by new taxes this often leads to double taxation without any substantial increase in revenue. E.g. the Ganges Tolls Act, 1867.

♤ Currently, there are 44 labour related statutes enacted by the central government dealing with wages, social security, welfare, occupational safety and health, and industrial relations. The obvious cost of India’s labour laws is corruption, since, ‘it is impossible to comply with 100% of the laws without violating 10% of them.

♤ There are laws dealing with speech and expression like sedition law. These laws define offences in widely worded terms, perpetrate confusion and ambiguity, and often used as a tool of harassment. They are left to the arbitrary interpretation of public authorities, and are often misused.

Government taking serious note of the issues raised by the 20th Law commission has introduced a bill in parliament to repeal 36 laws. It is planning to repeal 287 different laws related with labour market and the financial system. However, government needs to be cautious in its approach. It should not be done like outright downsizing of laws but rightsizing giving due consideration to needs of effective legal framework.