Ministry proposes to decriminalise law on collection of statistical data

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The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has moved a proposal to decriminalise offences under the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008 for the ease of doing business, according to a report by Business Standard.

The proposal seeks to do away with imprisonment for offences such as obstructing or deceiving statistics officers. The MoSPI has proposed that the fines for committing these offences should be increased. The  proposal suggests that the fine be set at Rs 2000-Rs 20,000 for individuals and Rs 10,000-Rs 100,000 for companies.

“A higher monetary penalty would be a more effective deterrent than imprisonment as it is more easily enforceable,” the ministry said.

The MoSPI has proposed a similar amendment for minor offences which are not mentioned in the act wherein it has been proposed that imprisonment be done away with and the penalty amount should be increased.

“As a residuary provision dealing with minor contraventions, the overreach of this provision may not be too severe. Therefore, imprisonment is not recommended. A higher penalty may be a sufficient deterrent against the offence(s) contemplated under this Section,” the MoSPI stated in the proposal.

While the proposal seeks to do away with imprisonment for minor offences, it states that  imprisonment up to six months along with a higher monetary penalty should be retained for offences such as  making false statements, impersonation of an employee, mutilation or defacement of information schedule and penalty for failure to carry out duties and functions by employees

“Imprisonment has been retained, observing the fact that willful attempt for a wrongdoing could lead to major offences. Imprisonment has been retained only for willful destruction of instruments of public good,” the proposal said.

The MoSPI has invited public comments on its draft proposal by October 30.

The Act was earlier amended in the year 2018 the amendment authorised the Centre to decide the manner in which statistical information collected can be used. The original Act of 2008 had restricted the data collected to be used only for statistical purposes.

The Act also extends the jurisdiction of the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, to Jammu and Kashmir on statistics relevant to any matters under any of the entries specified in List I (Union List) and List III (Concurrent List) in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, as applicable to Jammu and Kashmir under the Constitution (Application to Jammu & Kashmir) Order, 1954 according to a report by The Hindu.