Odisha Assembly passes Jan Vishwas Bill 2025 to decriminalise minor offences, streamline penalties

BHUBANESWAR: The Assembly on Tuesday passed the Odisha Jan Vishwas Bill, 2025, marking a major step towards enhancing governance and improving regulatory framework for ease of doing business and living in the state.The other objectives are to promote trust in businesses and citizens, streamline legal processes and ease the burden on the judiciary. The decriminalisation effort ensures that penalties are proportionate to the severity of offences while maintaining stringent punishment for serious violations,” the minister said.

He said the proposed reforms in 16 existing legislations put forward four important changes – removal of criminal penalties like imprisonment for minor offences with imposition of civil penalties, introduction of administrative adjudication mechanisms for minor violations to reduce pressure on the justicesystem, conversion of fines to civil penalties and rationalisation of monetary penalties.

The minister said that numerous existing regulations not only enforced excessively punitive measures but also imposed an undue compliance burden that stifle business growth and creates unnecessary obstacles for citizens to access government services.

“The Bill does not extend to decriminalise offences that have an adverse impact on human health, public administration or the environment. It does not propose any amendments to the general criminal laws such as the Bharatiya NyInspired by the central government’s Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023, Odisha has become the 10th state to implement similar reforms. The states which have done such reforms are Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Tripura and Meghalaya. 

They have benefited significantly from the proactive approaches resulting in a vibrant business climate that attracts substantial investments, the minister said.

With the passing of the Bill by the Assembly, the Odisha Jan Vishwas Act, 2025 will be deemed to 

Introducing the Bill in the House, Industries minister Sampad Chandra Swain said the primary aim of the legislation is to promote trust-based governance by decriminalising minor, technical or procedural offences across various state laws in agriculture, health, labour, trade and urban governance sectors.