Often the question is raised whether the law of the country is as sensitive and practical, which should be indispensable for a democratic country, despite getting independence.
In various cases, under the definition of law, there are many systematic encroachments which have been kept in the category of serious crime.
Questions are also raised regarding the implementation of both the jail sentence and the monetary fine for such crimes committed knowingly or unknowingly.
The question is also that when there has been jail, then why financial penalty? On the other hand, all the laws of the British era are prevalent in the country, which do not seem logical in the system of an independent country.
The campaign of the NDA government has to be appreciated, under which 1500 such laws were repealed during its nine-year tenure, which did not stand the test of justice in the country which reached Amritkal.
In fact, all the laws were such that protected the British rule from the opposition of the freedom fighters.
On the other hand, they used to curb personal freedom. In this direction, the Central Government has taken a big initiative and the Union Cabinet has approved the Public Trust Bill.
Under which 42 laws will be changed. There will be changes in 183 provisions coming under these.
Actually, the purpose of this effort is to reduce the burden of cases in the courts, increase ease of doing business and save people from going to jail in cases of minor crimes.
This initiative is an attempt to eliminate the punishment of imprisonment in case of minor crimes. In such cases only monetary penalty will be imposed.
Last Wednesday, the Union Cabinet approved the Public Trust (Amendment of Provisions) Bill 2023.
In fact, This bill was introduced in Parliament in December 2022 by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. To make this bill logical and to remove the anomalies related to it, it was sent to the Joint Parliamentary Committee over a period of time.
In fact, a 31-member committee was specially constituted for serious brainstorming on this issue. In which long discussions were held with the officials of various ministries related to legislative and law matters.
Not only this, opinion was also taken from various states on this issue. Subsequently, the committee submitted its report in March this year.
The committee had also advised states to encourage them to amend such provisions. The Committee was of the view that the Center should motivate the State Governments and Union Territories to take legal measures on the lines of the Public Trust Bill to keep petty crimes out of the category of crime.
In fact, according to the provisions of the Bill, the monetary penalty should be determined according to the gravity of the mistake.
On repetition of the mistake, the fine amount will be increased. In fact, in this bill, there is a recommendation to abolish the punishment of imprisonment in many such laws which have been going on since the time of British rule.
Those who do not meet the test of logic and justice in the present era. The British era laws to be amended include Indian Post Office Act 1898, Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act 1937, Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940, Public Debt Act 1944 etc. In fact, the Bill proposes to rationalize monetary punishment based on the gravity of the offense and promote governance based on trust.
Along with this, there is also a provision for review in fine for various crimes, the amount of fine will be increased by ten percent every three years.
At the same time, all the crimes of the Indian Post Office Act 1898, which gave protection to the British rule, will be abolished. In fact, The effort is that there should not be a big punishment for a small crime and monetary punishment should be used from a reformative point of view.
The government says that this effort will be helpful in ease of doing business and ease of daily functioning of the citizens. Undoubtedly, this constructive initiative of the Central Government should be welcomed.
