New Delhi: A Prime Minister's Office (PMO) appointed panel has identified 1,741 obsolete central laws that have outlived their utility and recommended that these laws should be repealed.
The Committee has also identified 150 Central Acts and suggested that they can be consolidated and enacted into 21 Central Acts to avoid multiplicity of laws. Besides, 55 of the central laws identified for repeal, including ‘The Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867' should be re-enacted, it said.
There were 2,781 Central Acts on the Statutes Book, as on October 15, 2014.
The panel comprising former secretary in the PMO R Ramanujam (chairman) and former legislative department secretary VK Bhasin (member), recommended the retention of 18 Central Acts, for the time being, that had been suggested for repeal by other committees/commissions.
The panel was set up in September 2014.
The Law Commission recently submitted four reports recommending the repeal of 288 archaic laws.
The PC Jain Commission too had recommended repeal of 1,382 central laws in 1998 and by March 2002, 315 were repealed.
