Odisha Passes Jan Vishwas Bill, Ending Jail for Minor Offences
Odisha decriminalises petty offences to boost business and ease citizen life.
The Odisha Legislative Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed the Odisha Jan Vishwas Bill, 2025, a landmark legislation designed to eliminate imprisonment for minor technical and procedural violations across multiple sectors, ushering in an era of trust-based governance and significantly enhancing ease of doing business and living.
Industries Minister Sampad Chandra Swain, while introducing the Bill, explained that the reforms target 16 existing state laws spanning agriculture, health, labour, trade, and urban governance, replacing criminal penalties with proportionate civil fines and introducing efficient administrative adjudication mechanisms to relieve overburdened courts.
The comprehensive overhaul includes four key measures: complete removal of imprisonment for trivial offences, substitution of criminal prosecution with monetary civil penalties, establishment of swift departmental resolution processes, and rationalisation of existing fine amounts to reflect the actual gravity of violations without compromising deterrence for serious crimes.
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Crucially, Minister Swain clarified that the legislation explicitly excludes any leniency toward offences affecting public health, environmental protection, national security, or public administration, while leaving central criminal laws such as the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita untouched, ensuring the reforms remain focused and responsible.
With Odisha becoming the tenth state after Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Tripura, and Meghalaya to adopt measures inspired by the Centre’s Jan Vishwas Act 2023, the state now positions itself to attract greater investment through reduced regulatory fear and a more citizen-friendly administrative ecosystem, effective retrospectively from November 3, 2025.
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