Effect of the Certificate of In Principle Approval.

(1) A Certificate of In Principle Approval shall act as an approval, as defined in clause (a) of section 2 for the regulatory services under the Acts specified in section 18, for a period of three years and six months from the date of its issuance. (2) During the validity of Certificate of In Principle Approval, no competent authority shall undertake any inspection for the purpose of, or in connection with, any approval as defined in clause (a) of section 2, except on the basis of complaints as specified in sub-section (6) of this section. (3) A Certificate of In Principle Approval may be issued under section 10 to Eligible Enterprise on receipt of a Declaration of Intent complete in all respects in the prescribed format. (4) The provision of a Certificate of In Principle Approval shall be optional and an enterprise may choose to avail the regular approvals from the concerned departments at any point of time. (5) A Certificate of In Principle Approval shall not entitle a person to use a piece of land in deviation to the land use or any stipulations specified in the regional plan, notified master plan or Local Planning Area notified under the provisions of the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act, 1995.The applicant shall also adhere to the sitting guidelines for setting up industries issued by various departments. (6) (a) In the case of complaints of serious nature, only the Head of the concerned authority alone may order inspection after recording reasons in writing for such an inspection. (b) The Inspecting Officer or the team of inspecting officers not below the rank of Joint Director shall be nominated by the Head of the concerned authority. (c) The inspection report shall be made available online to the enterprise and the concerned department within forty-eight working hours after the inspection. (7) During the course of validity of the Certificate of In Principle Approval, the enterprise shall at any time but not later than three years from the date of issue of the Certificate, apply to obtain all applicable regular approvals from the concerned departments through the State single window system of Punjab.