Lok Sabha okays bill: List of 71 laws proposed to be repealed

Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said these changes are aimed at reversing the effects of colonisation. Some of the laws proposed to be repealed include Acts dating back to the 19th century.

Lok Sabha on December 16 passed the bill to repeal and amend obsolete laws.

Here are the 71 laws proposed to be repealed

1. The Indian Tramways Act, 1886
2. The Levy Sugar Price Equalisation Fund Act, 1976
3. The Britannia Engineering Company Limited (Mokameh Unit) and the Arthur Butler and Company (Muzaffarpore) Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1978
4. The Chaparmukh-Silghat Railway Line and the Katakhal-Lalabazar Railway Line (Nationalisation) Act, 1982
5. The Hooghly Docking and Engineering Company Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1984
6. The Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (Determination of Conditions of Service of Employees) Act, 1988
7. The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015
8. The Payment of Wages (Amendment) Act, 2017
9. The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2017
10. The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017
11. The Employee’s Compensation (Amendment) Act, 2017
12. The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2017
13. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Amendment) Act, 2018
14. The High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 2018
15. The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Act, 2018
16. The Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018
17. The State Banks (Repeal and Amendment) Act, 2018
18. The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2018
19. The Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Act, 2018
20. The Central Universities (Amendment) Act, 2019
21. The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Act, 2019
22. The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Act, 2019
23. The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019
24. The National Institute of Design (Amendment) Act, 2019
25. The Chit Funds (Amendment) Act, 2019
26. The Special Protection Group (Amendment) Act, 2019
27. The Arms (Amendment) Act, 2019
28. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2020
29. The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Act, 2020
30. The Aircraft (Amendment) Act, 2020
31. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Act, 2020
32. The Salaries and Allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Act, 2020
33. The Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Act, 2020
34. The Indian Medicine Central Council (Amendment) Act, 2020
35. The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2020
36. The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2021
37. The Insurance (Amendment) Act, 2021
38. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021
39. The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021
40. The Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2021
41. The Coconut Development Board (Amendment) Act, 2021
42. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2021
43. The Central Universities (Amendment) Act, 2021
44. The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Act, 2021
45. The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2021
46. The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Act, 2021
47. The General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Act, 2021
48. The National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (Amendment) Act, 2021
49. The National Commission for Homoeopathy (Amendment) Act, 2021
50. The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Amendment) Act, 2021
51. The High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 2021
52. The Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021
53. The Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Amendment) Act, 2022
54. The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment)Act, 2022
55. The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022
56. The Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Act, 2022
57. The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022
58. The Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Second Amendment) Act, 2022
59. The New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Act, 2022
60. The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Second Amendment) Act, 2022
61. The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Fourth Amendment) Act, 2022
62. The Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023
63. The Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2023
64. The Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023
65. The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Act, 2023
66. The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Second Amendment) Act, 2023
67. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023
68. The Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023
69. The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2023
70. The Coastal Aquaculture Authority (Amendment) Act, 2023
71. The Central Universities (Amendment) Act, 2023

Laws proposed to be amended

The General Clauses Act, 1897

The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908

The Indian Succession Act, 1925

The Disaster Management Act, 2005

What bill says

“This Bill is one of those periodical measures by which enactments, which have ceased to be in force or have become obsolete or the retention whereof as separate Acts is unnecessary are repealed and by which certain amendments and formal defects detected in enactments are amended and corrected.”

The bill stated that the amendments proposed to the Indian succession Act, 1925 seek to attain uniformity by omission of section 213 which is discriminatory and provides that Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and Parsis have to obtain probate (official proving) of the Will or letter of administration where the Will is made within the local limits of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of the High Courts at Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, and where such Wills are made outside those limits, insofar as they relate to immovable property situated within those limits.

In law, probate is the court-supervised legal process of proving a will’s validity, identifying the deceased’s assets, paying debts, and distributing the remaining property (estate) to beneficiaries as directed by the will or state law. It grants the executor (or administrator) legal authority (Letters Testamentary) to manage the estate, essentially validating the will and administering the deceased’s financial affairs.