The Arunachal Pradesh Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2026

Notified vide No. LAW/LEGN-8/2026, Law, Legislative and Justice Department, Gazette Extraordinary dated 16.03.2026 (Notification dated 13.03.2026). Passed in the Fifth Session of the Eighth Legislative Assembly. Governor's assent: 11.03.2026. In force from date of Gazette publication.

The Act's stated purpose: "A Bill to amend certain enactments for decriminalising and rationalising offences and to further enhance trust based governance for ease of living and doing business." It operates by amending the Schedule of four existing Arunachal Pradesh Acts, following the pattern of India's central and other-state "Jan Vishwas" decriminalisation legislation.

Short Title, Extent & Commencement

• •Short title: The Arunachal Pradesh Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2026.
• •Extent: Whole of Arunachal Pradesh.
• •Commencement: On the date of its publication in the Official Gazette — i.e., 16.03.2026.

Mechanism

Section 2 amends the enactments listed in column (4) of the Act's Schedule, to the extent and in the manner set out in column (5) of that Schedule. The amendments follow a consistent pattern across the four Acts: removal or reduction of imprisonment terms for a range of regulatory/procedural offences, paired with substantially increased monetary penalties — the classic "decriminalise and monetise" structure of Jan Vishwas legislation.

Acts Amended

Section 116(2) — Base Penalty

"Five hundred rupees" is substituted with "fifty thousand rupees".

Section 117 — Fully Substituted (Offence Definitions)

Section 117 is replaced in its entirety, restating a list of offences (a) through (q) — covering unauthorised property transfer, employer/director non-compliance, misapplication of society funds, failure to deposit collected share money, failure to furnish records to authorities, failure to hand over custody of society property, wilful neglect of Registrar directions, false returns, fraudulent property disposal, unauthorised personal-benefit loans, falsification of records, and other rule-declared offences. An Explanation clarifies that "officer" or "member" includes past officers and past members.

Section 118 — Punishment Table (Old → New)

Note: unlike the Co-operative Societies Act clauses, this amendment does not delete the imprisonment term outright from Section 40 generally — it retains imprisonment (for the term already prescribed under Section 40, which extends to three years, per the surrounding proviso text) but carves out a sufficient-cause defence specifically for licence-renewal-lapse cases, alongside the monetary enhancement.

Section 22

• •Imprisonment term "up to 6 months" — deleted.
• •"₹10,000 or with both" → ₹50,000.
• •"₹200" → ₹2,000.
• •"₹2,000 per day" → ₹20,000 per day, subject to overall maximum fine of ₹1,00,000.

Section 23

• •Imprisonment term "up to 3 months" — deleted.
• •"₹2,000 or with both" → ₹50,000, plus recovery of any benefit obtained on account of the false statement.

Section 24

• •Imprisonment term "up to 6 months" — deleted.
• •"₹10,000 or with both" → ₹25,000.

Section 26

• •The phrase "a malpractice or" — deleted from the offence description.
• •Imprisonment term "up to 3 months" — deleted.
• •"₹10,000 or with both" → ₹50,000.

Section 27

• •The term "Non-Arunachalee" is replaced with "a person not ordinarily a resident of Arunachal Pradesh" — a definitional/terminology change, not a penalty change.
• •The reference to punishment "under Section 188 of Indian Penal Code" is replaced with "a fine not exceeding five thousand rupees" — this removes the IPC cross-reference (and its associated imprisonment exposure under IPC S.188) entirely, substituting a capped State-law fine.

In the Second Schedule to the Act, against the penalty prescribed for violation of Section 310, the words and expression "imprisonment which may extend to one month or rupees 1000 or both" are deleted.

Section 3 (Savings) is drafted broadly to preserve existing legal positions notwithstanding the amendments:

• •The amendment of any enactment by this Act does not affect any other enactment in which the amended enactment has been applied, incorporated or referred to.
• •It does not affect the validity, invalidity, effect or consequences of anything already done or suffered, or any right, title, obligation or liability already acquired, accrued or incurred, or any remedy or proceeding in respect thereof, or any release/discharge of any debt, penalty, obligation, liability, claim or demand, or any indemnity already granted, or proof of any past act.
• •It does not affect any principle or rule of law, established jurisdiction, form or course of pleading, practice or procedure, or existing usage, custom, privilege, restriction, exemption, office or appointment.
• •The amendment does not revive or restore any jurisdiction, office, custom, liability, right, title, privilege, restriction, exemption, usage, practice, procedure or other matter not now existing or in force.