Srinagar, Oct 10: The Federation of Chambers of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) has expressed deep anguish and strong resentment over the apprehensions voiced by the Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC) regarding the recently enacted Jammu and Kashmir Ease of Doing Business Act, 2026, describing its observations as misleading, speculative and detached from the harsh realities endured by the industrial fraternity for decades.
In a statement, FCIK said it was particularly disturbing that some former senior bureaucrats, who themselves occupied influential administrative positions when entrepreneurs struggled under excessive regulatory controls, should now question reforms intended to dismantle that very system.
The Federation recalled that it had consistently sought comprehensive Ease of Doing Business reforms for decades, including during the tenures of some officers now associated with GCC. Repeated representations had highlighted the ordeal of entrepreneurs moving endlessly between departments for permissions, renewals and clearances, encountering overlapping jurisdictions, arbitrary inspections and prolonged administrative indecision.
“Thousands of entrepreneurs have suffered humiliation, financial losses and uncertainty under a system where their investments and livelihoods remained hostage to bureaucratic discretion. These reforms represent a long-awaited opportunity to free enterprise from that stranglehold,” FCIK observed.
The Federation said political disturbances, natural calamities and economic uncertainty had already devastated industrial growth, while excessive bureaucratic control compounded these difficulties, discouraging investment, obstructing expansion and frustrating employment generation.
FCIK maintained that GCC appeared to have overlooked important provisos, exceptions and safeguards incorporated in the Act concerning environmental protection, human safety, larger public interest and specified planning restrictions. The legislation seeks to eliminate unnecessary procedural barriers, not dispense with substantive statutory obligations. The Federation questioned how GCC could draw sweeping conclusions about environmental degradation and unregulated development without demonstrating which mandatory safeguards had actually been extinguished.
Referring to apprehensions about deemed approvals, inspection moratoriums and Master Plan relaxations, FCIK said time-bound decisions and risk-based regulation were established instruments of administrative reform intended to prevent official inaction from becoming an indefinite veto over lawful enterprise.
“An inspection undertaken to prevent genuine environmental harm or danger to human life is entirely different from one conducted merely because an officer possesses the authority to do so. The former protects society; the latter, when exercised arbitrarily, becomes an instrument of harassment,” the Federation stated.
FCIK also rejected the suggestion that Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living were contradictory objectives. An enterprise, it said, was not merely a source of income for its promoter but generated employment, supported ancillary businesses, sustained families and contributed to public revenue.
“How can there be meaningful ease of living without opportunities for earning a dignified livelihood? For an unemployed graduate, a struggling artisan or a family dependent upon a distressed enterprise, productive economic activity is itself an essential component of ease of living,” FCIK observed.
The Federation emphasised Kashmir’s traditional household-based production economy, where activities such as sozni embroidery, shawl making, carpet weaving, papier-mâché, handloom production and wood carving have historically sustained generations of families with negligible or low environmental impact, depending upon the processes involved.
FCIK said its aspiration was to see every willing household in Kashmir become a potential production centre, enabling women, youth and other family members to supplement incomes while preserving traditional craftsmanship. Such genuinely non-polluting activities should not be burdened with unnecessary permissions merely because they involve commercial production.
Turning to environmental concerns, FCIK questioned why the historical failures of regulatory institutions were receiving so little attention in GCC’s discourse.
“During whose administrative tenures did wetlands suffer encroachments, water bodies deteriorate, agricultural land undergo indiscriminate conversion and unplanned construction proliferate? Jammu and Kashmir already possessed extensive environmental and planning laws when much of this degradation occurred. Multiple permissions and powerful regulatory authorities did not, by themselves, prevent these developments,” the Federation observed.
FCIK clarified that these questions concerned institutional accountability rather than personal blame. It also asked the former administrators associated with GCC to reflect upon what initiatives they had undertaken during their respective tenures to simplify procedures, eliminate redundant permissions, curb arbitrary inspections and hold officers accountable for delays, particularly when FCIK had repeatedly sought such reforms from successive administrations.
The Federation appreciated the efforts of the present administrative establishment under Chief Secretary AtalDulloo in advancing a renewed regulatory framework aimed at replacing discretionary permissions with transparent, time-bound and accountable governance. It also commended Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his government for refining and carrying these reforms through the legislative process.
FCIK said investors today compared states on regulatory predictability, infrastructure, incentives, administrative responsiveness and the cost and time involved in establishing enterprises. Jammu and Kashmir, already disadvantaged by decades of disruptions and accumulated industrial distress, could ill afford to lose further investment and employment opportunities because of outdated administrative practices.
The Federation stressed that environmental protection and economic development were not mutually exclusive. It said the safeguards and qualifications contained in the legislation must be faithfully reflected in the forthcoming rules, ensuring that environmental, planning and safety obligations remain enforceable while unnecessary bureaucratic interference is eliminated.
FCIK called upon GCC to substantiate its apprehensions through specific statutory references, technical evidence and workable alternatives rather than allowing speculative concerns to overshadow the long-overdue reform of an oppressive regulatory system.
“The industrial fraternity has waited decades for a system in which an entrepreneur remains answerable for violating the law but is no longer perpetually dependent upon an officer’s discretion to undertake lawful economic activity,” the Federation stated.
FCIK concluded that the real success of the legislation would be measured when entrepreneurs could devote more time to production, innovation and employment generation and less to pursuing files and permissions. It expressed hope that the forthcoming rules would preserve the reform’s original intent and prevent the reintroduction of unnecessary bureaucratic controls under different names.
About The Author
