Mayor Arti Mehra, Leader of the House Subhash Arya and Standing Committee Chairman Vijender Gupta said on Tuesday that guesthouse owners would be allowed to bring a structural safety certificate from any certified engineer instead of getting a clearance from the MCD's Building Department.

They said that while the Master Plan allowed a large number of guesthouses, these could not function without trade licences. For this license, the applicant had to submit clearances from various departments like the Building Department.

Under the new proposal, applications accompanied by the safety documentation will be cleared by the MCD Health Department, which will give a no-objection certificate after checking the guesthouse for proper drainage, hygiene and kitchen. The application will then go to the Delhi Police and Fire Services.

The Commissioner has been directed to ask the Health Department to issue timely clearance to avoid delay.

While the aim is to streamline the process of licensing--deemed necessary in view of the need to have cheap accommodation at the time of the Commonwealth Games--the plan is not free of problems. There is no obvious safeguard against private engineers issuing hurried structural clearances to enable guesthouse owners to expedite the process. It also opens the possibility of corruption in acquiring the documents. Besides, there is no guarantee that the Health Department will be able to make the process expeditious.