A man displays a birth permit for a second child he just received in Zhengzhou, Henan province on June 17,2014.[Photo/CFP]

Six deputies to the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, have suggested abolishing fines on those who have more than one child, China Business News reported on its website Friday.

Since last week, the State Council, or Chinese Cabinet started soliciting feedback on a draft regulation, which sheds light on levying fines on those who are not eligible to have a second child but did. The six deputies offered the advice in a joint letter in response.

The letter said China has sub-replacement fertility, meaning that its total fertility rate has each new generation being less populous than the previous one and an aging population in the long run. This is one of the reasons why the fine, which discourages birth, should be removed.

In addition, according to incomplete statistics, fines levied on unplanned birth amounted to 20 billion yuan ($3.25b) while information on how the money was spent lacks transparency. The money could fall into the hands of the corrupt, the letter was quoted as saying.

The current regulation on charging and managing fines over unplanned birth came into force in September 2002. According to this regulation, if a couple who is not eligible to have a second child had one anyway, each parent has to pay a fine, and the amount of the fine ranged from two to ten times the per capita annual disposable income of their local province. Each province, region and city can decide the specific amount.

The draft regulation under public review now proposes to downsize the penalty.