Assam Ease of Doing Business (Amendment) Bill, 2020

The Assam assembly recently passed the Assam Ease of Doing Business (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The bill makes amendments to the Assam ease of doing business act, 2016. The amendment will avail 0.25% additional borrowing from the centre.

What are the key features of Assam Ease of Doing Business (Amendment) Bill, 2020?

• The new bill will simplify procedures and bring transparency and efficiency in the system.
• Under the new Amendment Bill, the government has committed to create an investor friendly atmosphere in the state of Assam.
• The Government of Assam is to do away with all types of renewal certificate, permissions and licences under be Assam is of doing business Amendment Bill . This is being done because a large number of renewable applications are pending at different levels in Assam. This causes unreasonable delay .
• A computerized Central random inspection system is to be implemented. Under the system allocation of inspectors will be done centrally at random. The allocation is to be done by the competent authorities. The amendment makes sure that same Inspector is not assigned to the same unit in the subsequent year.

What is Assam Ease of Doing Business Act?

• The Act was enacted in 2016. The Act aimed to streamline the regulatory structures and processes and simplify the procedures related to renew license, certificate, permissions in setting up of Enterprises and industries in the state of Assam.
• Assam Bureau of Investment Promotion was established by the act. It oversees the overall supervision and administration of speedy processing of applications.

How does Assam Ease of Doing Business Act facilitate doing business in the state?

After an application is received, the system will automatically forward it to the competent authority. The system will then handover hard copies such as applications to the concerned officer of the competent authority. The officer is responsible to get clearance within the stipulated time frame. Also, the system will generate a report to the Bureau about the status of applications received, pending, disposal and the reasons for pending on monthly basis.
Therefore, the act has created a monitoring mechanism and a tracking mechanism to facilitate ease of doing business in the state.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2021