The Tamil Nadu Assembly adopted a Bill that sought to clip the powers of village panchayats and panchayat unions.
They were earlier able to set apart specified areas for industrial purposes or to refuse permission for industries.
The Bill was aimed at promoting the ease of doing business.
The Bill, tabled by him sought to amend the Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act, 1994 aims to replace the ‘Panchayat Union Council’ with ‘Inspector’ as the authority for granting and renewal of licences and permissions.
It also sought to remove the wordings “offensive or dangerous trade” for imposing penalty on violators.