CEA Proposes ‘One Nation, One Licence’ Plan For Electrical Contractors

CEA Proposes 'One Nation, One Licence' Plan For Electrical Contractors

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) issued an advisory to the concerned departments in the state to pave the way for a “One Nation, One Licence” plan for electrical contractors in the state engaged in different power and renewable projects. 

A series of meetings with the states follow this. The CEA, in its advisory, said that most Indian states are in favour of the plan. The central authority said that the move would likely avoid the long-drawn process of obtaining a separate license for electrical contractors in the respective states where they want to operate. 

The CEA document said there was a shortage of procedures regarding electrical contractors in different states. 

“…supervisor licence holder and wiremen licence holder of different states are allowed to work in other states by different arrangements made by different states (like reciprocal MoUs/verification/endorsement etc). However, no such procedure is allowed for electrical contractor licence holders in other states. As such, all state electrical inspectorates in which there is no such procedure existing to allow electrical contractor of other states are advised to take necessary measures…” the CEA document said.

The CEA has now identified the measures to be taken in such cases. The central authority said that any electrical contractor with a license from any state and willing to work in another state needs to undergo verification for authenticity by verifying the contractor’s license, workman permit, supervisor competency certificate supervisor working under the contractor. 

CEA said that the contractor will have to make an undertaking in such case that the supervisor and the workmen possess the required qualifications. It also asked states not to put any territorial restrictions for undertaking works in any form while granting such licenses. The CEA advisory also talked about the conditions under which the licences of electrical contractors could be revoked. It said that in case of misconduct by these contractors, their licences could be revoked. 

However, to verify such claims, an inquiry would be initiated by a sub-committee led by the official of the level of superintendent engineer. Such engineers will be nominated by the appropriate government in the states. The funding of the sub-committee will be handed over to the state’s licensing board, which can take further decisions, the advisory from CEA said.