EPG flags planning, environmental risks in J&K Ease of Doing Business Act

Group seeks scrutiny of Section 22, safeguards for Master Plans, Zonal Plans and risk-sensitive development

Srinagar: The Environment Policy Group has raised concerns over provisions of the Jammu & Kashmir Ease of Doing Business Act, 2026, warning that regulatory simplification should not weaken statutory planning, environmental safeguards or disaster-risk controls in the ecologically sensitive region.

In a statement, the Group acknowledged the need to simplify procedures, eliminate duplication, reduce delays and improve regulatory predictability. However, it stressed that regulation in Jammu & Kashmir could not be viewed merely as an impediment to investment, as planning and environmental controls were essential to ensuring that development remained compatible with ecological carrying capacity and local risk conditions.

The Group identified Section 22, which provides for relaxation or modification, as a principal area of concern, arguing that broad executive powers could potentially alter requirements without following the statutory planning process.

It said Master Plans and Zonal Plans were not routine administrative permissions but instruments reflecting land-use analysis, infrastructure requirements, environmental considerations, public consultation and long-term development priorities.

“Executive exemptions” that dilute these plans could undermine the statutory planning framework without formally amending the plans, the Group cautioned.

Concerns over statutory planning framework

The Group said the Act must be implemented in a manner consistent with the planning framework established under the Jammu & Kashmir Development Act, 1970.

Allowing executive facilitation to override statutory spatial planning could create parallel regulatory systems, with one governed by approved plans and another by executive exemptions, it said. Such an arrangement, the Group argued, could weaken regulatory certainty rather than improve it.

The statement also highlighted Jammu & Kashmir’s vulnerability to earthquakes, floods, landslides, unstable slopes, wetland loss and other environmental hazards.

Referring to the Srinagar Master Plan, the Group said flood-absorption basins, wetlands, seismic constraints and physical limits to urban expansion were important considerations in development decisions.

It warned that facilitating construction without adequate risk screening and location-specific safeguards could increase the exposure of communities and infrastructure to disasters.

“Ease of Doing Business must not become Ease of Building Anywhere,” the statement said.

Deemed approvals need risk assessment

The Group said time-bound and deemed approvals could help reduce administrative delays but called for a clear distinction between routine procedural matters and substantive planning, environmental and public-safety decisions.

It argued that administrative silence should not automatically be treated as informed approval for projects involving land-use changes, flood-absorption areas, wetlands, steep slopes, heritage sites, major infrastructure or other sensitive locations.

Such proposals, it said, required appropriate risk assessment before decisions were taken.

The Group welcomed risk-based regulation in principle but said its implementation would require clearly defined risk categories, objective thresholds, reliable spatial data and competent institutions.

It called for Jammu & Kashmir’s geographic information system (GIS)-based planning and disaster-risk assessment capabilities to be integrated into the Ease of Doing Business framework, with the level of scrutiny determined by the actual risk involved.

Calls for environmental safeguards and accountability

The statement stressed that redundant procedures could be eliminated without weakening substantive environmental, structural, fire-safety, land-use and public-safety standards.

“The objective should be single-window regulation, not single-window deregulation,” the Group said, underlining the need to retain environmental safeguards, particularly in ecologically sensitive areas.

It also called for clear criteria, written reasons, public disclosure and review or appeal mechanisms wherever the Act provides for relaxation, deemed approvals or exemptions.

Without transparent standards, the Group said, administrative discretion could replace procedural delays with regulatory uncertainty.

The statement further emphasised the importance of public consultation in significant changes affecting land use, development controls and environmental safeguards. It said executive changes made without disclosure, consultation and reasons could undermine public confidence and the legitimacy of the planning process.

Other States offer lessons in regulatory reform

The Group said ease of doing business should be distinguished from deregulation of spatial planning.

Referring to the national Business Reform Action Plan, it said States could improve the business environment through single-window systems, digitisation, time-bound approvals, online building permissions, rationalised inspections and risk-based scrutiny while retaining planning and building-control frameworks.

The experience, it said, demonstrated that compliance could be simplified without eliminating substantive controls.

The Group maintained that the Ease of Doing Business framework could modernise and accelerate approvals without displacing Master Plans, Zonal Plans or building regulations, particularly where these instruments address environmental sensitivity and disaster risks.

Group seeks safeguards in implementation

The Environment Policy Group said the issue was not whether unnecessary regulatory burdens should be removed, but where deregulation should end and essential public-interest regulation should begin.

It called for the Act to be implemented with clear safeguards protecting Master Plans, Zonal Plans, the Unified Building Bye-Laws, environmental regulations and risk-sensitive development controls.

Section 22, it added, warranted legal and planning scrutiny to ensure that executive facilitation did not inadvertently override the existing statutory planning framework.

The Group said Jammu & Kashmir should pursue “Ease of Doing Business through Better Regulation” rather than deregulation for its own sake, arguing that economic development, environmental protection and disaster resilience could reinforce one another when regulation was transparent, proportionate and informed by risk.

The Environment Policy Group said it was continuing its detailed examination of the Act and would place its recommendations before the Government and the public after completing the review.