Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Investment Promotion and Facilitation Bill, 2018, which will give the single window clearance system more teeth, was passed in the Assembly on Tuesday. Industries minister A.C. Moideen said that the Bill, which seeks to amend seven Acts including the Headload Workers Act, 1978, was a major step towards improving the state’s ‘ease of doing business’ index. The new Act will supersede the Kerala Investment Promotion and Facilitation Ordinance, 2018. It will put in place a brand new single-window system, called Kerala Investment Promotion and Facilitation Cell.
The cells, like before, will operate at both state and district levels. And like before, both will have representations from all major departments. But the efficiency and speed of its functioning in the grant of approvals will be facilitated by the amendment of a slew of acts, most notably the Headload Workers Act, 1978, the Kerala Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, the Kerala Municipality Act, 1994, and the Kerala Industrial Single Window Clearance Boards and Industrial Township Area Development Act, 1999. The district-level cells will now be given the power to grant approval to MSMEs with an investment of up to Rs 15 crore. Till now, the limit was Rs 10 crore. The Headload Workers Act has been amended to allow the investor to employ headload workers of his choice. The Act allows the entrepreneur to employ his own men.
In the case of the Panchayati Raj and Municipality acts, amendments have been brought in to give the approval process an unprecedented urgency. In their earlier form, these Acts were silent about acknowledging the applicant. The amendments specify that the authorised officer should verify the documents “on the spot”, and if at all documents were found missing, it should be informed to the applicant within five days.
Further, post amendment, rejecting an application has been ruled out. Either the permission has to be granted fully or partly subject to conditions. The right of panchayats and municipalities to refuse permission has been taken out. What’s more, the permission has to be granted before 30 days as against the earlier 60 days. Besides the new Bill, industries minister A C Moideen said that the state would put in place two more things to improve the ‘ease of doing business’ index; digitilisation of the Cell to facilitate online submission of applications, and an intelligence building plan system.
