The Law Commission has recommended immediate repeal of 11 Ordinances promulgated during the Second World War. The commission has stated that since these legislations have lost relevance way back should be taken off. One such contentious Ordinance recommended is Armed Forces Special Powers which is currently in vogue in Jammu and Kashmir and Assam. The AFSPA has been in the centre of a controversy in J and K with Kashmir centric parties demanding repealing of it whereas army is strongly pitching for its continuity. The Law Panel which is reviewing all obsolete laws has recommended repeal of 77 other archaic acts as part of its interim report. To begin with, the Law Ministry has plans to bring a fresh Bill in Parliament in the Winter Session to repeal 287 obsolete statutes. Based on the recommendation of the Law Commission, the ministry is also planning to carry out repeal of 700 Appropriation Acts which remain on statute books though they have lost relevance. Appropriation Act is intended to give authority to the government to incur expenditure from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India. Out of the 1,382 Acts recommended for repeal by that committee, only 415 have been revoked so far. One of the laws — Bengal District Act — recommended for repeal dates back to 1836. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in August constituted a separate committee to identify “obsolete” laws which, he believes, hamper governance by creating “avoidable confusion”. The poor conviction rates also substantiate the role of procedures in serving more as instruments of harassment than proving the effectiveness of law. What’s worse is that unlike other countries, India doesn’t have the practice of pre-trial consultations and conferences which can help fast settlement and weed out many cases before they reach Court. The entire procedure is done in Court, thereby stretching litigation time. Since Law Commission has recommended the repeal of the contentious Act what is to be seen is will it be removed and if so what will happen to the cases booked under the Act?
