Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2026 decriminalises 717 provisions across 79 Central Acts

The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2026 (Act No. 8 of 2026) received the President's assent and was published on 8 April 2026. It amends a schedule of Central enactments to replace criminal liability with monetary penalties determined by adjudicating officers. Section 1(2) provides that it comes into force on such date as the Central Government may appoint by notification, and different dates may be appointed for amendments relating to different enactments in the Schedule.

The gazette front matter and the commencement clause were read directly. effectiveDate is null because the Act itself does not commence on assent - each enactment in the Schedule is brought into force by separate notification, and the notifications were not located. The counts of 79 Acts, 717 decriminalised provisions and 67 rationalised penalties come from non-government commentary (PRS India, SCC Online) and were not confirmed in the gazette text read. A DPIIT briefing of 10 June 2026 (PIB PRID 2271031) refers to the Jan Vishwas Act, 2026 as part of a programme that has eliminated more than 47,000 compliances.

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