TN drafts SoP for granting approvals to business projects

C Shivakumar @ CHENNAI:

Tamil Nadu government is framing a standard operating procedure where in clearances for projects under ease of doing business is deemed to be given if the officials or competent authorities fail to follow the time-limit provided by Business Facilitation Act, which was passed last year.

Official sources told Express that as per Section 12 of the Tamil Nadu Business Facilitation Act and Rule 13 of Tamil Nadu Business Facilitation Rules, five clearances are covered under the deemed approval category.

They include planning permission, building permit, factory plan approval, registration of establishments for employing building and other construction workers and no objection certificate from Fire and Rescue Services.

It seems the timelimit has also been fixed for giving planning permissions by Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) and Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP).

For ordinary building, the time limit is 22 days, special building 33 days and multi-storied buildings, it is 66 days. Similarly, under DTCP for giving clearance under hilly areas, the time limit is 66 days

Similarly, the building permit applications under the local bodies and Greater Chennai Corporation has to be cleared by 14 days.

The approval for factory plans from Directorate of Industrial Safety (DISH)  should be given in 14 days while No Objection Certificate from fire services department should be availed within 15 days for non-multi storied buildings and 30 days for multi-storied buildings.

Similarly, the statutory approval of electrical drawings from Tamil Nadu Electrical Inspectorate should take only five days.

As per the draft standard operation procedure (SOP) for deemed approval, fortnightly meeting will be conducted by Single Window Committee to scrutinize the application and after all the queries have been answered, the in principal approval will be given by the committee.

The single window portal which was inaugurated recently will play a key role in the entire process. It will abide by the time limit stipulated under the business facilitation act. A warning letter with a unique system generated number and date will be generated to competent authorities.

If the authorities fail to pass final orders within the time-frame, the system will generate list of clearances which fall under deemed category with a unique system generated number to the nodal agency, which will later convene a meeting of Single Window Committee.

After this, permission is accorded with a unique system generated deemed approval number and date for deemed approval. This deemed approval will be valid till statutory approval is issued by the competent authority. Meanwhile, the competent authority will have to initiate action against persons responsible for deemed approval.

List of clearances covered under deemed approvals

1.  Planning permission

2.  Building Permit

3.  Factory Plan approval

4.  Registration of Establishments for employing building and other construction workers

5.  No Objection Certificate from Fire and Rescue Services