lok sabha passes bill to repeal 35 archaic laws

New Delhi: Seeking to weed out archaic and dead laws, the Lok Sabha today approved a bill to repeal as many as 35 legislations.

"This is an initial step taken by the new government. We will see in a span of one or two years...the statute book will be cleared. And there will be no confusion as far as disposal of cases are concerned", Law Minister Sadananda Gowda said.

He was replying to a debate on 'The Repealing and Amending Bill 2014', which was later passed by voice vote.

The government initially proposed to repeal 36 laws but Employment of Manual Scavenging and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 was withdrawn from the list following observations by the Standing Committee.

The government initiallyproposed to repeal 36 laws but Employment of Manual Scavenging and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 was withdrawn from the list following observations by the Standing Committee.

"These laws at present are of no use and such dead laws create confusion if they continue in the statute books," he said.

Out of the 36 acts proposed to be repealed, four were principal acts and others were amendments to the various acts.

However, the Standing Committee observed that the 1993 Act should be retained as several states were yet to pass resolutions to implement the 2013 Act on the subject, the Minister said.

The Acts which are sought to be repealed include amendments to the Representation of the People Act, Marriage Act, Election Laws, Divorce Laws and Anand Marriage Act and