The Decriminalisation of 2023, and the New Penalties

In one line

On 1 April 2024 imprisonment disappeared from this Act and monetary penalties took its place, and every book written before that date is wrong about section 15.

In the wording a student can write in an examination: the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act 2023, brought into effect for this Act from 1 April 2024, substituted the penal provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, so that section 14A imposes on a person who contravenes section 7 or section 8 or the rules made thereunder a penalty of not less than one lakh rupees and up to fifteen lakh rupees for each contravention with an additional penalty of fifty thousand rupees for every day of continuance, section 14B imposes for a contravention of sections 9, 10 or 11 or of orders or directions under them a penalty of not less than ten thousand rupees and up to five lakh rupees with an additional ten thousand rupees a day, and section 15 imposes for any other contravention of the Act, the rules, orders or directions for which no penalty is provided a penalty of not less than ten thousand rupees and up to fifteen lakh rupees with an additional ten thousand rupees a day.

What section 15 used to say

Until 31 March 2024 section 15 provided that whoever failed to comply with or contravened any of the provisions of the Act or the rules made or orders or directions issued under it was punishable with imprisonment for a term which might extend to five years, or with fine which might extend to one lakh rupees, or with both, and if the failure or contravention continued, with an additional fine which might extend to five thousand rupees for every day during which it continued after conviction. If it continued beyond a period of one year after conviction, the offender was punishable with imprisonment which might extend to seven years.

That was the position for thirty-eight years. It produced very few convictions, and that fact is the reason for the change.

What the amendment did

It removed imprisonment from the primary offences. Contravening section 7 or section 8 is no longer an offence at all; it attracts a penalty.

It graded the penalties. Section 14A for the substantive prohibitions, section 14B for the investigative provisions, section 15 as the residual.

It fixed minimums. Every one of the three has a floor, so an adjudicating officer cannot go below it.

It added daily penalties. Fifty thousand rupees a day under section 14A, ten thousand under sections 14B and 15.

It created a decision maker who is not a court. Section 15C, the adjudicating officer.

It kept imprisonment in one place. Section 15F: failing to pay a penalty or an additional penalty within ninety days is punishable with imprisonment for up to three years, or a fine up to twice the amount of the penalty, or both.