New Delhi: With the repealing of the three farm laws by the Parliament earlier last week, India has witnessed the 25 repeal bills passed in both the Houses of Parliament in whole or in parts in the last 20 years.
During the UPA government’s tenure, between 2004 to 2014, six laws that were earlier passed by the Parliament were repealed by the then government led by the Congress. In 2004 alone, the Congress government repealed three laws, while in 2005, two laws were repealed and in 2009, one law was repealed by the Congress government.
Some of the laws repealed by the Congress government between 2004 to 2014 include The Customs and Central Excise Laws (Repeal) Bill, 2004, The Prevention of Terrorism (Repeal) Bill, 2004, The Cess Laws (Repealing and Amending) Bill, 2005, The State Bank of Saurashtra (Repeal) and the State Bank of India (Subsidiaries Banks) Amendment Bill, 2009, The Punjab General Sales Tax (As in force in the Union Territory of Chandigarh) Repeal Bill, 2005, and The Special Tribunals (Supplementary Provisions) Repeal Bill, 2004.
While the Prevention of Terrorism Act was repealed by the Congress government as they said that it was being “misused” by certain state governments, the Customs and Central Excise’s certain enactments were repealed as the government had found them to obsolete, while The State Bank of Saurashtra (Repeal) and the State Bank of India (Subsidiaries Banks) Amendment Bill was passed to merge The State Bank of Saurashtra into State Bank of India.
As against the claims of the opposition parties and the Congress on holding no debate in Parliament during the repealing of the three farm laws, the then UPA government led by the Congress also held little or no debate to repeal laws during their tenure.
The Special Tribunals (Supplementary Provisions) Repeal Bill, 2004, was passed in the Parliament in about 18 minutes, Customs and Central Excise Laws (Repeal) Bill, 2004, was passed in eight minutes, while The Punjab General Sales Tax (As in force in the Union Territory of Chandigarh) Repeal Bill, 2005 was passed in less than 36 minutes.
Since 2014, the Narendra Modi government has repealed two major bills in Parliament during his seven years’ tenure. The first being The National Commission for Backward Classes (Repeal) Bill, 2018, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on 10 April 2018, but was later passed in the Rajya Sabha on 6 August 2018; the other being the farm laws repealed by the Parliament earlier this week, where both the Houses passed the repeal bill on the same day.
However, apart from these, the Narendra Modi government has made hundreds of colonial laws obsolete during his tenure of the last seven years by bringing in multiple Repealing and Amending Bill from time to time, while the Vajpayee government, between 2001 and 2002, repealed nine laws enacted by the Parliament.
Some of the laws repealed during the Vajpayee government are The Banking Companies (Legal Practitioners’ Clients’ Accounts) Repeal Bill, 2001, The Essential Services (Maintenance) Ordinance Repeal Bill, 2001, The Refugee Relief Taxes (Abolition) Repeal Bill, 2002, The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Validation of Electricity Tax) Act and Other Laws (Repeal) Bill, 2002, The Mysore State Legislature (Delegation of Powers) Repeal Bill, 2002, among some others.