The Goa Government, during the final minutes of the final day of the winter session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, pushed through the Goa Jan Vishwas Bill, 2026, thereby ratifying an ordinance that was promulgated by the Goa Governor in early December. By its own admission, the government states that the bill aims to decriminalise and rationalise minor offences, ease the compliance burden on businesses and citizens by substituting imprisonment clauses with monetary penalties, and substituting fines with penalties to further enhance trust-based governance.
On the other hand, the Opposition has, in opposing the Bill, said that it is being brought solely to help shield those responsible for allowing Birch by Romeo Lane, the nightclub where 25 people lost their lives in a fire on December 6, which was allowed to illegally operate without a fire and several other licences.
The Bill makes changes to several existing acts, including the Fire Force Act, the Goa Panchayati Raj Act and the Goa Municipalities Act and has ‘decriminalised’ lapses, taking away prison time and replacing it with just fines. Perfect for allowing the officials who allowed Birch to operate without licences to get away by just paying a fine. For example, sections 20 and 21 of the Goa Fire Force Act that previously allowed imprisonment up to three months for officials who failed to enforce fire safety requirements have been reduced to a maximum Rs 10,000 penalty in the Bill. This means that fire safety officers who neglect inspections or ignore violations now face only fines and not jail time.
Section 252 of the current Municipalities Act criminalised operating clubs and entertainment venues without proper licenses, but the Jan Vishwas Bill has converted this to a Rs 50,000 fine. Unauthorised or unsafe construction was treated as a criminal offence warranting court-ordered demolition; however, builders will now escape with a Rs 1 lakh penalty. It’s not about Birch alone. It is just one of the clubs that were violating the norms. The government’s own inspection report has led to the shuttering of 22 illegally operating nightclubs and high-footfall establishments.
But the real question that the government needs to come clean on is why they are making the law effective from December 2, 2025. Officially, the government has said that this is because it was on this date that the Goa Governor signed the ordinance. The Jan Vishwas Ordinance, though it shows as being signed on December 2, was notified in the official Gazette only on December 9, three days after the Birch Fire incident.
If the government is really serious about its claims that there is no correlation between the Birch incident, and the subsequent scrutiny of illegally operating nightclubs and that the timing of introducing the bill has nothing to do with the incident, then, why does the government not, as suggested by the Opposition, make the bill effective prospectively and not retroactively from December 2, 2025?
Why did the government bring the bill as an ordinance, a provision that is to be used only in emergencies, when waiting for the House to convene and pass the law via a regular process is not an option? All these inexplicable moves only give credence to the Opposition’s claim that the Bill is being brought to help those officials and business leaders found guilty of violations in operating nightclubs in the State to get away lightly. If the government is serious about its claims to the contrary, it should prove so, not by mere words, but by actions.
