Raipur
The Chhattisgarh Cabinet, in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai at Mantralaya (Mahanadi Bhawan) on Friday, took several significant decisions, including approving amendments to various state acts and policies.
The Cabinet approved the creation of 30 posts and the grant of Senior Selection Grade pay scale to State Police Service officers from the 2005 to 2009 batches who have completed the required qualifying service period. This move aims to improve cadre management.
In a key initiative for institutional development, the Cabinet approved the formation of a non-profit joint venture company between the Chhattisgarh government and PanIIT Alumni Reach for India Foundation (PanIIT). This venture will empower tribal youth, women, transgender persons, and other deprived communities through vocational education, skill development, and rural entrepreneurship. It will utilise unspent funds from schemes like the Tribal Sub-Plan and Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan to promote livelihoods and socioeconomic transformation. PanIIT will train trainers for skill development programmes and impart foreign language skills to enhance employability in the global market. Government buildings identified by district administrations will be handed over to the joint venture for training purposes.
The Cabinet also approved a draft amendment bill to the Chhattisgarh Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, 1991, to prevent road accidents caused by old vehicles and control air pollution.
An amendment to Rule 55 of the Chhattisgarh Motor Vehicles Rules, 1994, was approved, allowing vehicle owners to retain and use fancy or choice numbers from their old vehicles on new or same-category vehicles brought from other states, upon payment of a prescribed fee. If the old number was a regular one, it can be reused by paying the applicable fee under Rule 55(2)(g). This facility applies only to newly registered vehicles or those entering the state with a no-objection certificate (NOC). Government vehicles will also be eligible for this facility without any fees.
Other approvals include the Draft Chhattisgarh Private University (Establishment and Operation) (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and the Draft Chhattisgarh Agricultural Produce Market (Amendment) Bill, 2025.
In a landmark decision to empower the state’s youth through start-ups and innovation, the Cabinet approved the implementation of a Student Start-up and Innovation Policy. This policy aims to create a student-centric innovation and incubation ecosystem, increase intellectual property awareness, establish innovation centres in tribal regions, and promote sectors such as agriculture, green energy, healthcare, and manufacturing. The policy targets outreach to 50,000 students across 100 technical institutions, support for 500 prototypes, filing of 500 IPRs, and incubation of 150 start-ups.
The Cabinet approved a draft bill for establishing an authority for the planned development of the State Capital Region in Chhattisgarh, similar to the National Capital Region model. The authority will focus on comprehensive planning, investment promotion, inter-agency coordination, and regulated urban expansion, considering the rapid urbanisation and population growth in Raipur, Durg-Bhilai, and New Raipur (Atal Nagar). The projected population of this region is nearly 50 lakh by 2031.
The Draft Chhattisgarh Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2025, was approved to streamline rules related to Input Service Distributors in inter-state transactions, aligning with amendments to the Union Finance Act, 2025.
To encourage small and medium traders and expedite the resolution of pending tax-related cases, the Cabinet approved the draft of the Chhattisgarh Tax Arrears, Interest, and Penalty Settlement (Amendment) Bill, 2025.
The Cabinet approved the draft Chhattisgarh Land Revenue Code (Amendment) Bill, 2025. This amendment will simplify map-based partition and record updates, curb illegal plotting, and reduce future legal disputes with geo-referenced maps. It will also ease the process of mutation, particularly in the event of a landholder’s death.
The draft amendment to the Chhattisgarh Kushabhau Thakre University of Journalism and Mass Communication Act, 2004, also received Cabinet approval.
