Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Tuesday introduced the Modified Unified Portal for licensing of eating, lodging, and boarding establishments, which is a significant step towards boosting the city's hospitality industry.
In the National Capital, establishments can now operate under a significantly streamlined, minimal, and facilitating licensing structure. This single-window portal will assist entrepreneurs, people in business, and start-ups in the hospitality industry, with the process taking 49 days. By allowing them to simultaneously apply for and renew licences from the Delhi Police, MCD, NDMC, Delhi Fire Service, and DPCC using a single, simple form that can be completed in under an hour.
Faceless Procedure
The entire procedure of granting and renewing licences has been made online and faceless with the updated portal. Now, businesses in the hotel industry can apply for rights or renew them online using a Common Application Form (CAF) that is shorter, easier to use, and more streamlined. All 05 licencing bodies, including Delhi Police, MCD, NDMC, DPCC, and Delhi Fire Service, would be subject to this CAF.
In the new CAF, 140 fields have been removed, and the uploading of 28 documents has been done away with. Instead of five affidavits that were supposed to be submitted earlier, the applicants must now submit a Single Common Undertaking for all five agencies. The requirement of documents for the renewal of licences has been minimized, and no fresh documents, barring those whose validity has expired, will be required. The applicants will have to submit just a common undertaking.
Licence Validty Increased
Furthermore, the duration of all agencies' licences and notices of compliance has been increased to three years and made coterminous. Before, the validity ranged from one and five years for different organizations, and at any time, an applicant had to rush around to get these renewed. Timelines for grant or renewal have been set for all agencies to make the system visible and accountable. In the event of delays, responsibility will also be set.
Process Within 49 Days
However, the full procedure for issuing or renewing licences must be finished within 49 days of receipt of the application. The licence will be presumed to have been issued automatically if it is not granted or renewed within 49 days. This will significantly improve the previous regulations, which frequently led to applications for licences remaining unresolved for three years while also harassing the applicants.
