From Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Dec 2: The Karnataka State Legislative Assembly on Monday passed the Karnataka Industries (Facilitation) (Amendment) Bill 2013, which provides for clearance of investment proposals more than Rs 100 crore by the State High-Level Clearance Committee (SHLC).
The SHLC headed by the Chief Minister had powers so far to clear investment proposals above Rs 50 crore.
The State-Level Single Window Agency (SLSWA), headed by the Industry Minister, of the Karnataka Udyog Mitra has been empowered to clear investment proposals up to Rs 100 crore.
The SLSWA had powers to clear proposals up to Rs 50 crore so far.
Chief Mister Siddaramaiah explained the salient features of the Bill in the Belgaum session of the State Assembly, which was taken up for consideration in the house and said three meetings of the SHLC were held after the Congress government came to power and cleared proposals worth Rs 20,000 crore.
The District-level Single Window Agency headed by the Deputy Commissioner has been given powers to clear proposals ranging from Rs 3 crore to Rs 15 crore, he said.
On account of increased project cost, the chief minister said the investment proposals to be cleared by District-level Single Window Agency, SLSWA and SHLC have been increased.
A new provision has also been made in the Bill to review the decision taken by the SHLC.
“Any applicant aggrieved by the decision of the SHLC, may appeal to the SHLC for review of its decision if the applicant has any new facts or grounds on which the decision has to be reconsidered by the committee,” the Chief Minister said.
He said the Bill envisages a constitution of a state-level empowered committee headed by the Chief Secretary to monitor the implementation of projects. Heads of 12 departments, including Principal Secretaries of Commence and Industries, Revenue, Water Resources departments, as member.
The high-level committee monitors the status of implementation of the projects cleared by SLSWA and SHLC.