The State Legislative Assembly on Monday passed the Karnataka Industries (Facilitation) (Amendment) Bill 2013 to enable the State High-Level Clearance Committee (SHLC) to clear investment proposals of more than Rs. 100 crore.
Hitherto, the SHLC headed by the Chief Minister had powers to clear investment proposals above Rs. 50 crore.
The State-Level Single Window Agency (SLSWA), Karnataka Udyog Mitra, has been empowered to clear investment proposals up to Rs. 100 crore. Till now, SLSWA had powers to clear proposals up to Rs 50 crore.
Chief Mister Siddaramaiah explained the salient features of the Bill and said three meetings of the SHLC were held after the Congress government came to power and cleared proposals worth Rs. 20,000 crore.
The District-level Single Window Agency headed by the Deputy Commissioner has been given powers to clear proposals ranging from Rs. three crore to Rs. 15 crore, he said.
On account of increased project cost, the investment proposals to be cleared by the District-level Single Window Agency, SLSWA and SHLC have been increased, he said.
A new provision has been made in the Bill to review the decision taken by the SHLC. “Any applicant aggrieved by the decision of the SHLC may appeal to the body for review of its decision given earlier if the applicant has any new facts or grounds on which the decision has to be reconsidered by the committee,” the Chief Minister said.
He said the Bill envisages a constitution of a State-level empowered committee headed by the Chief Secretary to monitor the implementation of projects. Heads of 12 departments — including Principal Secretaries of Commence and Industries, Revenue, and Water Resources departments — are members of the committee.
The committee monitors the status of implementation of the projects cleared by SLSWA and SHLC.
The Bill prescribes a Combined Application Form for the use of entrepreneurs for obtaining clearance from the SHLC, SLSWA and District Level Single Window Agency. “It would eliminate submission of different applications for different departments,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
The Lower House also passed the Karnataka Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2013; The Karnataka Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) (Amendment) Bill 2013; The Karnataka State Commission for Women (Amendment Bill 2013); The Karnataka Essential Services Maintenance Bill 2013; The Karnataka Civil Services (Water Resources Services) (Assistant Engineers and Junior Engineers’ Special Recruitment) Bill 2013.
