Bill empowers municipality exec officer to approve building plans

Kolkata: The West Bengal Municipal (Amendment) Bill 2022 was passed in the state Assembly on Tuesday paving way for empowering the executive officer of a municipality to approve the cases of amendment, alteration and addition to the assessment list of holdings and sanction of building plans in the municipal areas, subject to subsequent approval by the Board of Councillors (BOC).

"Our aim is to ensure more transparency in the functioning of the administration of the municipalities and so we are going for step-by-step modernisation. The ease of doing business is our prime focus so that municipal services can be delivered to the people in the best possible manner. We are trying to create a team of municipal cadre so that executive officers can be appointed in all the municipalities," state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim said during his reply to the Bill.

Hakim reiterated that the population of the municipalities have gone up since the last census in 2011 and now, these local bodies also provide service to the peri-urban areas. So, efficiency needs to be increased.

"Why should an elected public representative be a signatory to trade licenses or building plans? We should act as policymakers and the rest will be the responsibility of the executive officers. However, the question of curbing the power of the local self-government does not arise as the BOC will have the power to cancel the decision of the executive officer," Hakim added.

The minister added that after the introduction of the online mutation system, it has become necessary to reduce the time for administrative approval in certain matters. The sanction time of building plans is expected to be cut down from the existing sixty days to 15 days.