Delaying files is a punishable offence when it comes to TS-ipass (Telangana State Industrial Project Approval and Self Certification System Act 2014) and TS-bpass (Telangana State Building Permission Approval and Self Certification Act 2020) Acts. Both are based on self-certification and can get deemed approval.
The Telangana government also included provisions for imposing fines on officials for delaying the processing of files and due to this around 98% of the cases are being cleared within the mandated deadlines.
Since inception, only seven officials have been fined for delaying the approval of TS-ipass. Since 2020, 90 officials have been penalised for delaying approvals through TS-bpass.
Industries department officials said that seven people were fined since inception. The fine amounts to Rs 5,000 a day. The State attracted through TS-ipass nearly Rs 3300 billion as investments as on January 2023.
As per TS-bpass, 90 officials were fined Rs 2.5 lakh and this includes Municipal Commissioners and senior officers.
Both TS-ipass (industrial approvals) and TS-bpass (self-certification-based time-bound building approval) are the ideas of Industries Minister KT Rama Rao.
MA&UD Secretary Arvind Kumar said, “In TS-bpass, there is a provision for time-bound clearance. This has had a salutary effect and around 98% of the cases are being cleared within the mandated deadlines. The system was introduced in 2021 and in less than 24 months, we have reached 2 lakhs (1,99,288 to be precise ) which by no means is a small achievement. All building approvals in GHMC, HMDA and all the 142 ULBs are done through TS-bpass. It is thus essential that all officers strictly follow deadlines so that permissions can be granted in a time-bound manner. There is a provision for levying penalty on officers at whose desk the processing gets delayed beyond the prescribed deadlines and it is as per this that we have levied fines on 90 officers.”
Collectors have been asked to regularly monitor the approval process so that delays do not occur.
