Periodic Repealing and Amending Acts address the stock of obsolete laws but not the flow. Suggest institutional mechanisms, such as sunset clauses and periodic review, for keeping the statute book current.

The Repealing and Amending Act, 2025 removed 71 obsolete Acts dating from 1886 to 2023 [1]. Omnibus repeals clear the backlog. But Indian laws have no expiry date, so new dead law keeps piling up. To keep the statute book current, review has to be built into the law-making cycle itself.

Why the flow continues

• Clean-ups happen once and stop: The Law Commission's 248th–251st Reports listed hundreds of obsolete Acts, but a law goes only when Parliament repeals it [2].
• A "set and forget" culture: The OECD calls review of existing rules the "forgotten child" of regulatory policy [3].
• Gaps in coverage: Central repeal Bills do not reach State laws, subordinate rules or administrative forms.

Institutional mechanisms

At the drafting stage

• Sunset clauses for subordinate rules and temporary schemes: the rule lapses automatically unless it is renewed. The OECD calls them a "failsafe" [3].
• Statutory review clauses: the law itself requires a review some years after it comes into force [3].
• Ex-ante impact statements attached to every Bill, setting out targets that a later review can test.

During the life of a law

• A standing review cell in the Legislative Department, extending its repeal tracking with Ministries [2] into a permanent function.
• A three-question test for every Ministry: Is the reason for the rule still valid? Has it achieved its aim? Does it impose needless costs [3]?
• Post-legislative scrutiny by committees: The Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Jan Vishwas Bill, 2022 examined each provision and recommended higher fines [4]. Departmentally Related Standing Committees could review older Acts the same way.
• Penalty indexation: The Jan Vishwas Act, 2023 decriminalised 183 provisions in 42 Acts [5] and revises fines periodically, so they keep their deterrent value.

Federal and administrative level

• State Law Commissions and State repealing Acts. Committees on Subordinate Legislation should review rules in a fixed cycle.
• Form audits: no form is reprinted unless the department that owns it certifies that the content is still valid.

Safeguards

• Exempt core rights-based and constitutional laws from sunset clauses to avoid legal uncertainty.
• Match the depth of review to how much a law matters [3].

Moving from one-off clean-ups to continuous review would tackle the flow as well as the stock. The tools are sunset and review clauses, committee scrutiny and indexed penalties. Built into the system, they would keep the law lean and predictable. That serves the rule of law and SDG 16.6 (effective, accountable institutions).