Parliament passed the Repealing and Amending Act, 2016 keeping in line with the Government’s aim to clean the Statute book and repeal old and defunct laws. In effect though only a few old and defunct laws such as:
- The Excise (Spirits) Act, 1863
- The Foreign Recruiting Act, 1874
- The Indian Law Reports Act, 1875
- The Elephants Preservation Act, 1879
- The Excise (Malt Liquors) Act, 1890
- The Lepers Act, 1898
- The Indian Tramways Act, 1902
- The Wild Birds and Animals Protection Act, 1912
- The Mussalman Wakf Validating Act, 1913
- The Indian Medical Degrees Act, 1916
- The Local Authorities Pensions and Gratuities Act, 1919
- The Mussalman Wakf Validating Act, 1930
- The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933
- The Red Cross Society (Allocation of Property) Act, 1936
- The Employers’ Liability Act, 1938
- The Railways (Local Authorities’ Taxation) Act, 1941
- The Continuance of Legal Proceedings Act, 1948
- The Exchange of Prisoners Act, 1948
- The Resettlement of Displaced Persons (Land Acquisition) Act, 1948
- The Delhi Hotels (Control of Accommodation) Act, 1949
- The Merged States (Laws) Act, 1949
- The Drugs (Control) Act, 1950
- The Indian Independence Pakistan Courts (Pending Proceedings) Act, 1952
- The Newspaper (Price and Page) Act, 1956
- The Sugar (Regulation of Production) Act, 1961
- The State-Associated Banks (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1962
- The Personal Injuries (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1962
- The Compulsory Deposit Scheme Act, 1963
- The Personal Injuries (Compensation Insurance) Act, 1963
- The Banking Laws (Application to Co-operative Societies) Act, 1965
- The State Agricultural Credit Corporations Act, 1968
have been repealed. The rest of the Acts that have been repealed are Amendment Acts, Acquisition of Undertakings Acts, Extension and Validation Acts or Repeal Acts. Many more defunct laws as pointed out by the Law Commission still remain on the Statute books and need to be repealed