Factory licence given by the municipal corporations is on the way to extinction, with two of the three corporations initiating the process of abolishing the system and the other one to follow later this week.
The corporations have decided to do away with their licensing formalities altogether in order to improve the ease of doing business in the city, which is a step towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ programme.
The Standing Committees of the North and South Delhi corporations on Tuesday passed proposals to abolish factory licences after the BJP, which rules the civic bodies, took a call on it. The proposal will have to be passed by the House and then sent to the government for notification. The East Delhi Municipal Corporation is likely to follow suit at its Standing Committee meeting on Thursday.
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As per the proposal in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation’s Standing Committee, having two separate agencies (the corporation and the Delhi Government) issuing factory licences “is creating hindrances in planned industrialisation of the city and the Make in India policy”.
The proposal states that most of the documents that the corporations ask for in the process don’t fall under the ambit of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act “legally or administratively”.
Also, the Delhi Government’s Industry Department also seeks almost the same documents to issue factory licences.
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The proposal said removing Section 416, which pertains to factory licensing, from the DMC Act will have little effect on revenue, but will give relief factory owners and “will improve the image of the corporation”.
Mohan Bhardwaj, the chairperson of the Standing Committee of the North Corporation, said the staff of the Factory Licensing Department will now be deputed to collect property tax.
“Inspectors of the department should not be visiting factories,” said Mr. Bhardwaj.
The Opposition Congress, however, questioned the motives behind the move.
“The corporation does not have the power as per existing provisions of the DMC Act to abolish the license. They are just playing to the galleries. Licensing is not meant to generate money, but for regulating and that isn’t being implemented properly,” said Farhad Suri, the Leader of the Opposition in the SDMC.