Odisha to scrap 358 redundant Acts from statute book

Bhubaneswar: The state cabinet on Wednesday approved the repeal of 358 Acts enacted by the state legislature between 1974 and 2025, after law department identified them as redundant and obsolete.

Odisha chief secretary Anu Garg said most of these were amended Acts which, once enforced, had already served their purpose as the changes stood incorporated into the respective principal laws. “There is no necessity to retain such Acts on the statute book,” she said, adding that some laws were enacted as one-time measures for specific purposes and lost relevance after implementation.

Odisha State Law Commission, in reports dated April 6 and 30, recommended repealing these Acts on the ground that they had become redundant or outdated. Garg said the exercise would help declutter the statute book, and remove confusion among public.

The cabinet decided to accept the commission’s recommendations and initiate steps to enact the Odisha Repealing Bill, 2026, to formally repeal the 358 Acts, she added.