Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Monday that the aim behind the police being relieved of the responsibility of issuing licences to businesses is to ensure that establishments are granted licences easily, within a reduced time frame, and at a lesser cost. It will also give the police more time to focus on their core duties, such as crime control, maintenance of law and order, and public security, she added.

L-G V K Saxena, in an order dated June 19 – circulated on Sunday – had withdrawn the Delhi Police’s power to sanction a no-objection certificate (NOC) to seven types of business establishments, in line with the Centre’s vision of ‘Ease of Doing Business’.

Instead, the power to issue such licences will now lie with local bodies like the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), or the Delhi Cantonment Board. The Delhi Police’s Licensing Branch will now only deal with the grant or sanction of arms licences and licences for explosives, the order stated.