New Delhi: For decades, setting up and running a business in Jammu and Kashmir meant navigating a maze of clearances, repeated trips to government offices, and waiting months for approvals.
The process is now set to change with the Jammu and Kashmir Ease of Doing Business Bill, introduced by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in the State Assembly on September 28.
The legislation seeks to replace a permission-heavy system with a rule-based framework. The bill promises time-bound approvals, fewer inspections and a single-window approach to make it easier for businesses to operate, attract investment and create jobs.
But the business community in the state is divided in its response. While some welcome the prospect of fewer bureaucratic hurdles, others remain wary of how the new provisions will be implemented.
“The initiative is promising, but we already have a single-window system, and it has not delivered any results. The bill has the potential to fast-track the upcoming commercial projects. It will attract more investors to J&K,” Robin Singh, an industrialist in Jammu and Kashmir, told ThePrint.
So how does the Ease of Doing Business Bill seek to address the long-standing concerns of the business community?
What does the bill say?
The official gazette of the bill states that it aims to “consolidate and amend” the law and enable citizens and enterprises to “plan, invest and work with confidence.”
“… to foster Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living in a manner that generates employment, attracts investment, and sustains long-term economic growth in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” the bill reads.
The Bill also seeks to eliminate duplication of paperwork by preventing government departments from repeatedly asking businesses to submit documents already furnished to another authority in the state.
“For the purposes of regulatory compliance, the Government shall function as a single entity. No authority shall require duplication of information, documentation, approvals, or processes that are available with, or have already been furnished to, any other authority of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” the Bill states.
While the Bill underscores transparency, single window and risk-based regulation, it also states something quite unusual. According to the Bill, if an authority fails to provide permission within the prescribed time, the request will be deemed granted.
“Where an application, declaration, or request made under this Act is not disposed of within the prescribed time, the enterprise shall, on expiry of that time, be entitled, as of right, to the relief, permission, registration, license, service, or other outcome as sought in such application, declaration, or request, and shall not be prejudiced by any silence, inaction, or delay on the part of any authority,” the Bill reads.