New Delhi, April 3 The Ministry of Commerce and Industry wants all departments to consider withdrawing pending court cases involving minor offenses in light of the Jan Vishwas amendment bill, as it would significantly reduce the burden on the judiciary and promote ease of living, a top official said on Friday.
Parliament passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026, on Thursday to amend 784 provisions in 79 central laws to decriminalize and rationalize about 1,000 minor offenses in order to further improve the business environment and check harassment of people.
"Because of the changes coming up in the law, there is a greater case that a review can be taken up in all these provisions. We will also be discussing this with the Ministry of Law and work out how it can be conveyed to the concerned departments," Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Amardeep Singh Bhatia told reporters here.
As part of the general effort to reduce the burden on the courts, he said, the government has advised all departments to review pending cases and withdraw the prosecution wherever possible.
"There is a general advisory which is already in place to review all pending cases and wherever the departments feel that they need to be withdrawn as they are not very serious offenses, they can file a request with the court to withdraw them," he added.
Addressing the media on the passage of the bill, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said, according to estimates, there are five crore pending court cases related to minor offenses, the majority of which should never have gone to court.
"We hope that these can be resolved by the prosecutors by asking the courts to simply close them based on the new provisions, so that relief can be given to past cases... It will be our request to the courts to take a decision on these minor offenses and end them," Goyal said.
He said, "These 1,000 sections, in some way or another, nationally, regionally, were a source of uncertainty, a source of potential corruption and harassment. We have removed all of that."
The minister also said that the government is open to further suggestions to re-examine all the laws at the central government level.
"12 states have come out with their own versions of Jan Vishwas bills, decriminalizing state laws, and I would encourage the rest of the states to follow suit and consider decriminalizing petty offenses," he added.
The Bill proposes to remove imprisonment in 57 provisions and fines in 158 provisions. Also, imprisonment is proposed to be reduced in 17 provisions, and imprisonment and fines are proposed to be converted to penalties in 113 provisions.
It also proposes 67 amendments under the New Delhi Municipal Council Act, 1994, and the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, to facilitate ease of living.
Goyal expressed hope that municipal bodies in other states would take cues from these proposed changes and amend their laws to promote ease of living.
Further, Bhatia said that penalties have been prescribed only for the first offense of violating air pollution standards, but driving licenses will be suspended for three months.
However, stricter provisions will apply for subsequent violations, he added.
Similarly, for noise pollution, it has been decriminalized for the first offense, with only a warning issued, while the usual provisions will apply for subsequent violations.