BBMP East Zone slowest

BBMP Trade License: Unnecessary Delay

Kere Manjunath ಕೆರೆ ಮಂಜುನಾಥ್ 

Bengaluru: There is an unnecessary delay in issuing ‘Trade License’ to new businesses or individuals under BBMP.

Although applications for trade licenses are being submitted under ‘Sakala’ to start a business, some health officers are also holding the applications in their login. The applications submitted in December have not been disposed of yet.

Applications for new trade licenses should be submitted online. After this, all the documents are advised to be submitted in person to the health department officials. After checking them, an on-site inspection will be conducted. If everything is in order, the license will be issued. All this, despite the ‘Sakala’ rule that it should be completed within 10 to 30 days, is being complained that some health officers are unnecessarily holding the applications.

If the eligible applications submitted from December to March were granted a business license by April 1, the license renewal fee should have been paid from April 1. It is said that the corporation has suffered a financial loss as new applications have been held up without this opportunity. 

‘I applied for a business license in January. But, so far, I have been simply being waved around. They are asking for unnecessary documents. Those who have given them ‘what is necessary’ are getting the license quickly. The delay is hampering our business start-up. We are not able to start other processes,’ lamented a new entrepreneur. 

‘The distribution of business licenses is extremely slow in the eastern zone. More than 50 applications are pending each in Sarvajnanagar and C.V. Raman Nagar divisions alone,’ he said. 

‘If the licenses were already granted for the applications submitted from December to March for business licenses, they should have been renewed from April 2025. But the health officers have not disposed of the new license applications for the lure of money and have kept them in their logins, causing financial loss to the corporation, informed BBMP officials who did not want to be named.

No more pending: CHO

‘Trade license applications are not kept for a long time. There can be no delay as applications are received on time. Only 24 applications were pending in the BBMP area as of Friday. If any application is delayed for a long time, a complaint can be filed,’ said Chief Health Officer Dr. Syed Sirajuddin Madani.

‘Steps are being taken to distribute the trade license in a single day. A new software has been developed for this. If all the documents are submitted online with the application, a system will be implemented to issue a ‘provisional trade license’ on the same day. The file related to this has been submitted for the approval of the Chief Commissioner, and it will be implemented as soon as the approval is received,’ he informed.