Gandhinagar: Aiming to improve the ease of doing business in the state and promote the principle of ‘earning well, living well,’ the Gujarat Legislative Assembly on Tuesday passed the Gujarat Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill 2025, which seeks to decriminalise 516 provisions across 11 laws.

The bill was approved by a majority vote after discussions in the assembly. While tabling the bill, State Industries Minister Balvantsinh Rajput explained that the amendments cover six departments and are designed to foster trust-based governance, replace fines with penalties proportional to the severity of legal violations, reduce the burden on courts, modernise outdated laws, and create a business-friendly environment for MSMEs, startups, and other enterprises.

Rajput noted that the state’s bill was prepared after a detailed review of the Union government’s Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0, which eliminated over 40,000 compliances at central and state levels to boost ease of doing business.

“Reducing compliance burdens encourages business process re-engineering and enhances ease of living. The state government is therefore focusing on simplifying, digitising, and rationalising compliances to achieve these objectives,” Rajput said.

He added, “The fear of imprisonment for minor offences has been a major obstacle to business growth. The government is thus decriminalising several minor offences and replacing them with monetary penalties.”

The proposed changes affect 11 laws across six departments: urban development; labour, skill development and employment; Narmada, water resources, water supply and Kalpsar; industries and mines; agriculture, farmer welfare and cooperation; and finance.

Explaining the 516 provisions being decriminalised, Rajput said that one provision will no longer carry imprisonment, 17 provisions will replace imprisonment or fines with penalties, and 498 provisions will replace fines with penalties. These measures mainly address minor issues such as filing delays, licence renewals, and minor safety violations. DeshGujarat