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The government has simplified the process for companies to set up Inland Container Depots/Container Freight Stations (CFS)/Air Freight Stations (AFS). The improved procedure is aimed at ensuring a speedier and more transparent approval process. Towards this objective, companies can now make their application online and view its progress/update online, without visiting any government office. Also, this is a pioneering attempt as a major Inter-Ministerial IT application rather than a mere Intra-Ministerial IT initiative.
The approval process for setting up an ICD/CFS/AFS involves many departments. This is facilitated through an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) which consists of officials from the Ministries of Commerce, Finance (Department of Revenue), Railways and Shipping. If required, the view of the respective state governments is also sought. This IMC is housed in the Department of Commerce which is mandated to act as a single window for the approval process.
Current process
In the current process, the applicant submits as many as ten physical copies of the application form, with the requisite documents, to the Infrastructure Division at the Department of Commerce (DoC), New Delhi, besides one copy to the Jurisdictional Commissioner of Customs.
The current process of examination of the application is very cumbersome as the application form is very bulky with the ancillary material running into almost 500-1,000 pages. This is initially scrutinised by the Department of Commerce for adherence to the land acquisition guidelines. Copies of the application are then sent to the Ministries of Railways, Shipping, Civil Aviation and the Department of Revenue (CBEC) for scrutiny and comments. The Department of Revenue then sends the copies of this application to the Jurisdictional Commissioners in the field and, thereafter, on receiving a report from them sends their clearances to the Department of Commerce. Upon receiving the comments from the Ministries of Railways, Shipping, Civil Aviation and the Department of Revenue, the Department of Commerce convenes the meeting of the IMC where the application is reviewed on the basis of the comments received, and a decision taken on issue of the Letter of Intent (LoI) to the applicant.
Upon receiving the approval, the applicant is required to set up the infrastructure within one year from the date of approval. The IMC may grant an extension of six months after reviewing the justification for delays given by the party.
After the applicant has put up the required infrastructure, conformed to the security standards of the Jurisdictional Commissioner of Customs and provided a bond backed by bank guarantee to Customs, a final clearance and Customs notification is issued by the Customs department which then declares the facility operational.
Improved process
There have been frequent complaints from the stakeholders (applicants) that the manual process was very cumbersome. Not only does it result in loss of documents in transit, but there is also lack of transparency regarding the status of various clearances by the different agencies/departments. There have been persistent demands from the stakeholders to streamline the processes and, therefore, the Department of Commerce embarked upon a project to have the complete process online for the convenience of the applicants.
Now with the culmination of the project, the backend process will also be online and the applicant will be able to see the various stages of processing of his application in the Ministries/Departments as it would be visible online.
Apart from saving reams of paper, the process also brings about greater transparency by disclosing the status of the application. This includes sending out SMS and email alerts to keep all the stakeholders abreast with the progress.
This approach was conceived under the broader motto of the government—”Minimum Government, Maximum Governance”, espoused by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
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