Reforms In: Jan Vishwas 2.0 on the Fast Track

Introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 18, 2025, the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025, has been referred to a select committee, which is expected to submit its report by the first day of the next session.

This Bill builds on the reforms initiated under the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023, which decriminalised 183 provisions across 42 central legislations, including the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951. The 2023 Act also amended intellectual property (IP) laws, including the Copyright Act, 1957, the Patents Act, 1970, the Trade Marks Act, 1999, and the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. These IP amendments came into effect on August 1, 2024.

Key Highlights of Jan Vishwas 2.0

Jan Vishwas 2.0 seeks to simplify compliance, reduce judicial burden, and make penalties more proportionate. Key measures include:

• Issuing advisories or warnings for certain first-time contraventions instead of penalties.
• Replacing imprisonment clauses for minor, technical, or procedural defaults with monetary penalties or warnings.
• Introducing graduated penalties for repeated offences.
• Establishing adjudication mechanisms to reduce court involvement.
• Automatically increasing fines and penalties by 10% every three years.

Laws Covered

The Bill proposes amendments to 17 laws, including a minor change to the 2023 Act regarding the revision of fines and penalties. Overall, 288 provisions are targeted for decriminalisation to foster ease of doing business, while 67 provisions are proposed for amendment to enhance ease of living.

Now, let us take a look at some of the key changes suggested under the Bill.

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006

Section 27(1) addresses contraventions of Section 8(1) (filing of memorandum/registration) and Section 26(2) (furnishing information).

• Current law:
  • Covers intentional contravention, attempts to contravene, or abetment of contravention of Section 8(1) or Section 26(2).
  • First contravention → fine of up to Rs 1,000.
  • Second or subsequent contraventions → fine between Rs 1,000 and Rs 10,000.
• Proposed law:
  • Focuses on wilful submission of false information during MSME registration under Section 8 or failure to furnish information under Section 26(2).
  • First contravention → warning.
  • Second or subsequent contraventions → penalty of up to Rs 50,000.

Penalties may be imposed by the Development Commissioner to the Government of India, and aggrieved parties can also file an appeal, reducing judicial burden.

Note: Section 8 talks about filing a memorandum, but the Entrepreneurs Memorandum II (EM-II)[1] and the Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum (UAM) were replaced by the Udyog Registration a few years back.

Legal Metrology Act, 2009

The Act is to be updated to replace fines for certain first-time contraventions with warnings in the form of improvement notices and introduce graduated fines for repeat offences.

For instance, Section 25  deals with penalty for the use of non-standard weights/measures:

• First contravention → improvement notice instead of a fine.
• Second contravention → fine of up to Rs 1 lakh.
• Subsequent contraventions → double the previous fine, capped at Rs 5 lakh.

Other updates include decriminalising provisions for obstructing the Director, the Controller or any legal metrology officer (Section 40) and manufacturing weights/measures without a licence (Section 45).

Motor Vehicles Act, 1988

Key changes proposed in this Act include:

• Proviso after clause (iv) in Section 14(2): Restores a 30-day grace period after driving licence expiry.
• Proviso to Section 166(3): The Claims Tribunal may condone delays of up to 12 months in filing compensation applications beyond the prescribed six-month period.
• Section 40 (vehicle registration): Clarifies that any registering authority within the State may process applications, irrespective of the owner’s residence or place of business within the State. This resolves the ambiguity around local jurisdiction that remained despite the 2019 amendment. It also gives statutory backing to the government’s 2024 advisory requiring registering authorities to accept applications from across the State.

Changes to Other Laws

The Bill also proposes amendments to several other laws, including the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, the Electricity Act, 2003, and the New Delhi Municipal Council Act, 1994, among others.

[1] EM-I had to be filed with the District Industries Centre before establishing the enterprise, and EM-II upon commencement of production or rendering of services.