The Telangana Legislative Assembly has passed a bill to decriminalise minor offences and improve ease of doing business in the state, with the legislation proposing monetary penalties, scope for compromise in certain cases and the removal of outdated provisions.
State Legislative Affairs and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu said the Telangana Praja Viswasam (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026 had been drafted in line with the Centre’s Jan Vishwas legislation. The state bill is intended to reduce the use of criminal proceedings for minor regulatory violations while improving transparency and regulatory efficiency.
According to the minister, the Industries department consulted various government departments before identifying more than 400 offences that could be decriminalised. The proposed changes are aimed at promoting ease of doing business by replacing criminal consequences for specified minor offences with monetary penalties.
The bill also provides scope for compromise in certain offences, a provision the government said would help reduce legal disputes. It further seeks to remove outdated and unnecessary legislation, although the supplied report does not specify the individual laws or offences that will be amended or repealed.
The measure follows the Centre’s Jan Vishwas framework. The Lok Sabha passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026, on April 1, according to the report. The central legislation decriminalised more than 180 minor offences and replaced them with monetary penalties across different laws, with the stated objective of promoting ease of doing business and ease of living.
The Telangana government said the Industries department would undertake efforts to create awareness about the rules and regulations introduced through the new legislation. That awareness campaign will be relevant to businesses and other regulated entities that need to understand which violations are subject to penalties, which provisions allow compromise and which requirements continue to carry legal consequences.
During the Assembly debate, members also raised concerns about the difficulties faced by small businessmen in securing bank loans. Responding to those concerns, Sridhar Babu said the government would instruct the State Level Bankers Committee to address problems faced by small business owners, particularly those belonging to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Class and minority communities.
The bill’s passage places the next focus on the detailed provisions, implementation process and departmental communication that will determine how the decriminalised offences are enforced. The report does not state when the legislation will come into force or identify the specific penalties attached to the offences.
