62 Proposed Changes Across 16 State Laws Focus on Decriminalizing Minor Violations and Streamlining Regulatory Approvals
GTNS
BHUBANESWAR | SEPTEMBER 28, 2026 , The Odisha Jan Vishwas Bill, 2026 is being positioned as the next stage of the state’s regulatory reform programme, with its focus shifting from merely reducing criminal penalties for minor violations to making everyday compliance easier for citizens, businesses and entrepreneurs.
The proposed legislation covers 62 amendments across 16 state Acts administered by 11 departments. The measures have been divided into two broad areas—decriminalization of minor, technical and procedural offences, and rationalisation of regulatory approvals and permissions.
The Bill follows the Odisha Jan Vishwas Act, 2025 and seeks to widen the reform agenda by addressing the practical difficulties associated with licences, renewals, permissions and overlapping approvals.
From punishment to proportionate compliance
One of the central ideas behind the legislation is that every regulatory violation should not automatically result in criminal proceedings.
The proposed framework seeks to distinguish between a minor procedural lapse and a serious or deliberate violation. For smaller breaches, the emphasis would move towards proportionate monetary penalties and administrative mechanisms rather than imprisonment.
The government has said that serious violations and actions that threaten public safety, health or public interest would continue to face appropriate regulatory action.
This distinction is important for small businesses and self-employed persons, who often have fewer resources to deal with complex compliance systems than large corporations.
Two schedules, two reform tracks
The Bill divides its proposed amendments into two schedules.
Schedule I contains 35 amendments across 11 Acts, primarily dealing with the rationalisation and decriminalisation of minor, technical and procedural offences.
Schedule II contains 27 amendments across five Acts, focusing on streamlining nine regulatory approvals.
The second category includes measures aimed at reducing duplicate permissions, simplifying approval requirements and extending the validity of certain licences and registrations.
The government has also proposed intimation-based compliance mechanisms in areas where prior approval may not be necessary.
What changes could mean for businesses
For entrepreneurs, the significance of the Bill lies less in any single amendment and more in the cumulative reduction of compliance steps.
Repeated renewals, multiple permissions and overlapping approvals can consume time and administrative resources. The proposed reforms seek to reduce such duplication where the same regulatory objective can be achieved through a simpler mechanism.
For MSMEs, start-ups, shopkeepers and self-employed workers, the government argues that a less complicated compliance system could reduce procedural costs and allow greater attention to production, investment and employment.
The Bill is therefore closely linked to the broader Ease of Doing Business agenda.
A wider impact beyond industry
The proposed changes are not limited to large industrial establishments.
The legislation touches laws connected with areas including warehouses, homoeopathy, livestock development, irrigation, medical registration, gram panchayats, veterinary practice, municipal administration, agricultural markets, electricity reforms and urban policing.
That means the practical impact of the reforms could extend to different sections of society depending on how the amended provisions are implemented.
For citizens, the intended objective is a system in which it becomes clearer what permission is required, which documents have to be submitted and when a renewal is actually necessary.
The 16 laws covered by the reform
The proposed reform package covers the following state laws:
- Odisha Warehouse Act, 1956
- Odisha Homoeopathic Act, 1956
- Odisha Livestock Improvement Act, 1957
- Odisha Fire Works and Loudspeakers (Regulation) Act, 1958
- Odisha Irrigation Act, 1959
- Odisha Medical Registration Act, 1961
- Odisha Grama Panchayats Act, 1964
- Odisha Veterinary Practitioners Act, 1969
- Odisha State-Aid to Industries Act, 1978
- Odisha Requisitioning of Goods Vehicles Act, 1986
- Odisha Electricity Reforms Act, 1995
- Odisha Municipal Act, 1950
- Odisha Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1956
- Odisha Municipal Corporation Act, 2003
- Odisha Urban Police Act, 2003
The government’s wider description of the Bill places it within a second phase of regulatory reform following the 2025 Jan Vishwas legislation.
Why the reform matters for ordinary citizens
The proposed changes could affect people who may never consider themselves part of the formal “business” sector.
A professional requiring registration, a farmer dealing with agricultural-market rules, a local trader seeking municipal permissions, a veterinary practitioner, a small manufacturer or a person dealing with a local authority could encounter some of the provisions covered by the reform.
The government’s argument is that compliance should remain enforceable but should also be understandable and proportionate.
That means simplifying a procedure does not necessarily mean removing accountability.
Public interest remains a separate line
The proposed decriminalisation measures are not presented as a removal of regulatory safeguards.
The government has maintained that public health, public safety and wider public interest protections would remain in place. Serious, repeated or deliberate violations would continue to attract stronger enforcement.
The proposed shift is therefore from treating every technical lapse as a criminal matter towards differentiating between the nature and seriousness of violations.
Digital compliance and administrative efficiency
Another important aspect of the reform is the push towards simpler and, where feasible, digital compliance.
If approvals, registrations and information submissions can increasingly be handled through streamlined digital systems, citizens and businesses could spend less time moving between departments and submitting repetitive paperwork.
However, the eventual effect will depend on how the amended provisions are notified, interpreted and implemented by the concerned departments.
Odisha’s broader regulatory reform
The 2026 Bill follows the state’s earlier Jan Vishwas reform and forms part of a wider national movement towards trust-based governance.
At the national level, the Jan Vishwas reforms were designed to reduce criminal consequences for certain minor violations and rationalise outdated regulatory provisions. Odisha subsequently adopted its own state-level framework and is now seeking to broaden it further.
The proposed legislation therefore represents a shift in the state’s regulatory philosophy: fewer unnecessary procedural barriers, clearer compliance requirements and proportionate action for minor violations, while retaining stronger safeguards for serious breaches.