Telangana Assembly passes Praja Viswasam Bill to boost ease of doing business | Hyderabad News
Hyderabad: The Telangana legislative assembly on Saturday passed the Telangana Praja Viswasam (Amendment) Bill, 2026, aimed at strengthening trust-based governance and improving the ease of doing business (EoDB) in the state. IT and industries minister D Sridhar Babu introduced the bill in the assembly and said it is part of the broader legislative reform initiated by the Centre to decriminalise minor, technical and procedural violations in various laws. The Centre’s Jan Vishwas Bill removed more than 180 minor offences from the criminal framework and replaced imprisonment with financial penalties in appropriate cases.“As part of the state-level reforms, the industries department, along with the commissioner for industries, conducted a comprehensive review of state laws, rules and regulations. The review identified more than 400 criminal provisions across 33 departments that could potentially be amended,” Sridhar Babu said. Based on the review, the Telangana Praja Viswasam Bill proposes to decriminalise 15 provisions relating to five departments and repeal one outdated law, the minister said.Key proposalsThe key proposals include replacing imprisonment for minor offences with monetary penalties, introducing an adjudication mechanism for administrative violations, prescribing graded penalties based on the severity and duration of violations, allowing scope for compounding certain offences, reducing litigation, improving regulatory transparency and efficiency, and repealing obsolete or unnecessary laws.The minister said the reforms were intended to reduce the compliance burden on businesses and create a more transparent, investor-friendly and trust-based regulatory ecosystem in Telangana. He said the bill also seeks to provide scope for compromise in certain offences to reduce legal disputes, improving transparency and regulatory efficiency and scrap outdated and unnecessary legislations. The industries department will create awareness on rules and regulations under the legislation, he said.Responding to concerns raised by members, Sridhar Babu said the govt would instruct the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) to address the difficulties faced by small businessmen, particularly those belonging to SC, ST, OBC and minority communities, in securing loans from banks. The Lok Sabha on April 1 passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026, which seeks to amend certain provisions in various laws for decriminalising and rationalising minor offences and further promote ease of doing business.
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