*Failure to result into retrieval of land, forfeiture of premium
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, June 7: Nearly one year after the notification of Industrial Policy 2016-2026, the Government has come up with the Procedural Guidelines for its effective implementation and proposed several measures so that land allotted in the Industrial Estates is put to use within shortest possible time. Moreover, several steps have also been proposed for retrieval of land from the sick industrial units besides their rehabilitation in terms of the framework recommended by the Union Ministry of MSME.
New Industrial Policy (2016-26) of the State was issued with the approval of State Administrative Council, Decision No. 31/05/2016 dated March 14, 2016. Thereafter, following establishment of PDP-BJP Coalition Government, some provisions of the policy were reviewed and vide Government Order No.125-IND dated June 21, 2016 the Industrial Policy was again notified with certain modifications.
After issuance of the Industrial Policy in March 2016, various industrial associations demanded elaboration of various provisions. In this regard, Chief Minister directed the Department of Industries and Commerce to elaborate various provisions of the Industrial Policy by issuing detailed Procedural Guidelines.
“Finally, the Cabinet, which met today, accorded sanction to the adoption of Procedural Guidelines, which will remain applicable till the policy remains in vogue and will come into force with immediate effect”, sources said, adding the guidelines have been prepared on the basis of feedback/ suggestions obtained from various stakeholders and inter-departmental consultations with the Finance and Law Departments.
The Procedural Guidelines specifically elaborate process to be followed for registration of units, single window clearance, obtaining pollution clearance, allotment of land, retrieval of land from sick units, rehabilitation of sick units and obtaining incentives under the State Package etc.
“As availability of land at reasonable and subsidized rates is the most important factor in the establishment of industry, the Government will endeavor on one hand to arrange and ensure availability of land to the entrepreneurs and on the other hand it will be ensured that land provided by the Government is put to industrial use within shortest possible time of its allotment so that industrial land doesn’t remain vacant or unutilized for a long time”, read the Procedural Guidelines.
The stipulated period within which effective steps are required to be taken shall be two years, which will start from the date of building plan approval, which in turn, should necessarily be obtained within 75 days of land allotment order. “In case, the building plan approval is not obtained within 75 days, the timeline for taking effective steps shall be reckoned from the date of allotment of the land”, reads the Guidelines, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR.
In case effective steps are not taken by the entrepreneur within two years, the land shall be retrieved and allotted to other entrepreneurs as per the guidelines. In such cases, the premium and/or rent paid by the entrepreneur shall be forfeited. Similarly, the maximum period of two years has been fixed for coming into production from the date of building plan approval as such entrepreneur will have to plan effective steps in a manner that the proposed unit comes into production within two years.
In case of those entrepreneurs who have already taken effective steps within two years of allotment before as well as after the notification of Industrial Policy-2016 but could not come into production for any unforeseen reasons, they will be granted maximum of eight months time-frame. However, the provisional registration of those enterprises which have not taken any effective steps within the prescribed period of two years will be cancelled and the land will be retrieved.
Mentioning that progress of implementation will be monitored constantly, the Guidelines state that Managing Directors of SIDCO/SICOP will constitute a Monitoring Cell, which will include officers from concerned DIC to regularly monitor and update the status of implementation of the project(s). The Monitoring Cell will visit the premises at least once in a month to physically verify the progress of implementation of each project and Managing Directors of SIDCO and SICOP will quarterly review the progress of project implementation in each case.
Pointing towards the framework for revival and rehabilitation of micro, small and medium enterprises notified by the Union Government, the Guidelines state that once all the steps have been exhausted for revival and rehabilitation of a sick industrial unit, the Government will provide an exit route to the sick unit by allowing transfer of its ownership/lease hold rights to another entrepreneur provided all the liabilities are cleared.
As far as rehabilitation of sick units is concerned, the State Level Revival Committee will deal with only such cases which are referred to it by the concerned banks through the Directorate of Industries and Commerce. In the Guidelines, process to be followed for obtaining incentives under the State Package has also been elaborated for the convenience of the industrialists.
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