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State to bring ordinance to form MAITRI-empowered committee
The Eknath Shinde government has decided to promulgate an ordinance to protect the powers of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), days after it withdrew Maharashtra Industry, Trade and Investment Facilitation Cell (MAITRI) Bill 2022 due to differences over the jurisdiction of agencies
The Eknath Shinde government has decided to promulgate an ordinance to protect the powers of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), days after it withdrew Maharashtra Industry, Trade and Investment Facilitation Cell (MAITRI) Bill 2022 due to differences over the jurisdiction of agencies.
The bill, which aimed to form an empowered committee for timely approvals to investment proposals, was passed by the assembly in the first week of March. It was proposed that this panel would be headed by the development commissioner (industries) with secretaries from other departments, among others, as members.
However, officials at the industries department were unhappy over the powers of the MIDC, the nodal agency, being reduced. As a result, the government could not table the bill in the legislative council and later withdrew it, citing ‘an error in translation of the draft’. But sources at Mantralaya said the main reason for the withdrawal was an objection raised by MIDC officials though it is not clear why the objection was not raised before the bill was introduced in the assembly.
To resolve the differences, chief minister Shinde approved amendments to the MAITRI bill at a cabinet meeting held last week. As per the new proposal, the MIDC would remain the nodal agency in the areas or estates developed by it while the committee would have the final say in the rest of the state. Since the legislature is not in session, the government is planning to bring an ordinance to convert the bill into act.
Industries minister Uday Samant said the state will soon come up with an ordinance to form a MAITRI-empowered committee. “The state cabinet has given its approval to the amendments to the bill. Now, the MIDC will be the nodal agency in its areas and for industries outside its jurisdiction, the committee will work as the executing authority.”
He claimed that there was an error in translation of the draft which caused the misunderstanding that the MIDC’s powers would be brought down.
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