View: Laws that took shape during PM Narendra Modi's rule have significant impact

On the occasion of his 72nd birthday, I can’t help feeling that anyone who carefully observes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's life, whether he knows him or not, is struck by the fact that it has been a life of constant and upward evolution. From humble beginnings, to a dedicated party worker, on to a senior party official, to Chief Minister of Gujarat, to Prime Minister of India, and now a world leader getting ready to host his contemporaries on the world stage in the G-20 Summit in India next year. This upward mobility and success have come about only because he has constantly pushed the envelope and sought to expand the frontiers of what has previously been achieved. For me, it would be best to dwell on the achievements made in the last eight years in the field with which I am familiar, namely law.

The last eight years have witnessed many new laws taking shape, the impact of which has been significant. The first and most important development was by way of the Constitution (101st Amendment) Act of 2016, which paved the way for the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (commonly known as GST) in the country. This has been hailed by many to be the biggest tax reform after independence. It was pending since 2008, and ultimately came to be passed in the year 2016, when Arun Jaitley, the Finance Minister under the Prime Minister’s leadership, navigated it to a successful conclusion. The GST helped create a uniform tax regime across India, which eliminated multiple state and union taxes, and greatly simplified the taxation system. This regime aims to ultimately bring India’s 1.3 billion strong population under a single market for the first time since the country’s independence.


It is noteworthy to mention that out of the eight years that the Modi Government has been in power, India has had three Law Ministers, namely – (i) Ravi Shankar Prasad; (ii) DV Sadananda Gowda; and (iii) Kiren Rijiju. Ravi Shankar Prasad was the Law Minister for almost five years of the eight. During his tenure, about 1250 old and redundant laws were repealed by Parliament, at the initiative of the Government, in order to ensure that all laws which were archaic and obsolete were taken off the statute books. This took place alongside some very important laws being passed, one such being the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (known as IBC) which was enacted with a view to consolidate and amend the laws relating to insolvency, so that the issue could be resolved in a time bound manner, and ensure simultaneously the maximization of the value of assets under insolvency.

Two more endeavours that deserve mention are that, under this Government the Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of the High Courts was set up, again helping ensure the ease of doing business in India. Also, the amendment to the Specific Relief Act making specific performance of contracts the general rule rather than the exception was another positive step in the development of the law.

Side by side, a record number of High Court Judges and Supreme Court Judges were appointed, and a considerable amount of money was spent to improve the infrastructure of the courts. The sanctioned strength of judges was increased from 906 to 1079. Noteworthy also is the setting up of a National Judicial Data Grid. Litigants through this database are now able to access case status information in over 20 crore cases and have access to more than 80 crore orders/judgements. This was a unique achievement of great benefit to the litigants of the country.

When the tenure of Ravi Shankar Prasad as Law Minister ended, the Prime Minister took another bold and innovative step, and experimented with the idea (perhaps the first of its kind) of having a non-practicing lawyer as the Law Minister. The logic behind the same perhaps was that a lawyer, who had a busy and active practice when he became a Law Minister, often brought with him baggage from his previous years as an advocate viz-a-viz the judges. It was therefore felt that a non-practicing lawyer being appointed as a Law Minister would be an innovative step forward and one is happy to observe that it has proved to be a successful experiment. Kiren Rijiju as Law Minister in the one year that he has been in office has already participated in the appointment of approximately 230 judges and has also been responsible for several new initiatives like the inauguration of the country’s first “Sports Arbitration Centre of India” in Gujarat, which has served as an independent body to fastrack disputes in the sports sector. Also, he has recently inaugurated the new premises of the Jammu and Kashmir International Arbitration Centre at Srinagar. He was also responsible for the introduction of the Criminal Procedure Identification Bill of 2022.

I could of course go on, but I have to be brief here. I wish the Prime Minister a long life and much success, and, as the Americans would say, “more power to his elbow and a greater spring to his step”.

( Top litigation lawyer Raian N. Karanjawala is Managing Partner, Karanjawala & Co.)