Gurugram: For years, a small manufacturer in Haryana wanting to set up a new unit has had only one option: wait. That was for the change in land use, the fire department’s nod, the pollution board’s clearance, or even the local body to sign off on the building plan.
Days turned into weeks and months. Many gave up before the first brick was laid. That wait is now supposed to shrink to 15 working days.
The Haryana government has notified the Haryana Right to Business Act, 2026, nearly three weeks after the Vidhan Sabha passed the Bill on 1 September. The notification, dated 18 September , was uploaded on the state’s e-gazette on Monday, making the law official.
Under the Act, new and expanding manufacturing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) can apply for a Certificate of In-Principle Approval, or CIPA. The District Nodal Agency, headed by the Deputy Commissioner, has to decide on the application within 15 working days. If it does not, the approval is deemed granted; no file can sit indefinitely on anyone’s desk.
Sections 15 and 16 of the new law spell out exactly which approvals fall under this fast-track system, listed in a Schedule that the government can expand later by notification.
As it stands, six authorities are covered. The town and country planning department handles change of land use in industrial zones, No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for units inside urban area limits, NOCs for units falling outside controlled or urban areas, and building plan approval for low-risk industries. The Department of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) covers change of land use for industrial areas within municipal limits, along with building plan approval for low-risk industries.
The fire department issues the fire-fighting scheme and fire service NOC for White and Green category industries. The Haryana State Pollution Control Board grants consent to establish and consent to operate under the Water Act, 1974 and the Air Act, 1981, covering White and Green category industries as well as Orange category industries located inside industrial areas.
The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) issues building plan approval for low-risk industries and the plinth level certificate. And the labour department handles shop registration under the Haryana Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 1958.
The certificate is not a substitute for these regular approvals. It gives entrepreneurs 36 months to complete them while operations get underway.
During this window, routine inspections and coercive action by these six departments remain off the table, barring a complaint or concerns over land-use violations, unauthorised construction, public safety, structural stability or fire safety, and even then only on the recommendation of the department head concerned.
Rai Industrial Association president Rakesh Chhabra reacted cautiously, saying the Act could genuinely change things on the ground, but only if it is enforced the way it reads on paper.
“Some of the approvals, like the change of land use by the ULBs and the town and country planning department, are quite tedious jobs. If these are given under deemed approval, this can really be beneficial,” he told ThePrint.
Change of land use has for decades been widely seen in Haryana’s business circles as one of the biggest sources of corruption in the entire clearance process.
If the deemed-approval clause holds firm for this particular approval in practice, industry watchers say it could strike at one of the most entrenched sources of rent-seeking in Haryana’s bureaucracy.
The law also sets up a time-bound grievance redressal mechanism, 30 days at the district level, and a further 15 days at the state level, for enterprises that believe they have faced coercive action during the protected period.
With the Act now notified, the next test will be on the ground: whether Deputy Commissioners’ offices can actually turn around applications in 15 days, and whether departments like town and country planning let the deemed-approval clause work the way Chhabra and others in the industry are hoping it will.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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