Muslim Personal Law among 52 laws Centre mulling review

New Delhi: The Central government is reportedly considering reviewing 52 laws, including the Hindu Marriage Act, and the Muslim Personal Law of 1937, as these laws have been found to be redundant and too old that have lost significance in the present time.

According to The Economic Times' report, the laws to be reviewed by the Law Ministry include the Code of Civil Procedures, Indian Succession Act, Hindu Marriage Act, Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937 and the Indian Contract Act.

As a further development, the Law Ministry has reached out to all ministries and departments, seeking their views on the relevance of these Acts and converting criminal liabilities under them to civil offences.

According to the Law Ministry, several of the offences under such laws which invite criminal prosecution are clogging up courts when monetary penalties would suffice.

Modi as a part of BJP's election promise had earlier said if the party came to power, his government would scrap 10 obsolete or archaic laws.

An official told ET that the government would try to push amendments in line with the responses of the ministries in the upcoming session of Parliament.

In a recent communication, Law Ministry officials told that the acts are under review as to their purpose and relevance in the present-day context.

According to a letter reviewed by ET, the Law Ministry noted that it was necessary to obtain the views or comments of the ministries and departments to ensure these Acts still have relevance to be part of the statute book and also to what extent and manner.

"It is also necessary to provide comments or views as to converting any criminal liability for violation of the provisions of these Acts to civil liability," said the letter.

The 52 Acts identified by the Ministry also include Powers of Attorney Act 1882, Official Trustees Act, Indian Succession Act, Commercial Documents Evidence Act, 1938, the Special Marriage Act, 1954, Arbitration and Conciliation Act, the Limitation Act and the Specific Relief Act among others. The government has already removed from the statute over 1,200 archaic Acts that had lost relevance and decriminalised many others.

Many offences under the Companies Act were decriminalised and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech.