(This News Article Is Originally Posted on The Times Of India by Sanjay Khajuria)
To revive the business sector and boost investor confidence with a business-friendly environment, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has approved the elimination of at least 15 no-objection certificates (NOC) as a prerequisite for setting up an industry in the Union Territory.
As per the decision taken by the Administrative Council (AC), which met under the chairmanship of lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday, the NOCs or approvals have been relaxed for setting up of a business unit in J&K, a spokesperson said. He said the Udyog Aadhaar memorandum as per the condition of the government of India would be the only requirement for setting up a business unit now. Earlier, as many as 15 NOCs or clearances were required for a business unit to be established, which have now been reduced to a bare minimum.
The official said, “These bare minimum NOCs/approvals shall be required subsequently, for which two sets of single-window committees have been established — one for business units coming up within industrial estates and another committee for units outside the industrial estates.”
He said these committees would ensure time-bound issuance of the NOCs or approvals pertaining to the power connection, water connection and building plan as per specified timelines on a case-to-case basis.
Further, the spokesperson said a divisional-level committee has been approved, which would periodically monitor the working of the committees and address issues, if any, related to issuance of NOCs or approvals.
“No pre-requisite approvals shall be required as a general rule except for NOCs/ approvals from departments like pollution control board (CTE/CTO), NOC from fire and emergency department, change of land use from revenue department, etc, wherever applicable,” the spokesperson said.
During the meeting the LG remarked that consistent policy actions were being taken to encourage large-scale investment, innovation, restoring J&K’s advantage in resources and skilled workforce to create a business-friendly environment and drive economic growth in J&K.
