Kerala Fire License

Kerala fire license is a document of conformity to the requirements of fire safety. Fire license is well known as No-Objection Certificate in Kerala. Department of Fire and Rescue services of Kerala issues fire license to certify that the fire systems are efficient in a given premise. In Kerala, fire license is mandatorily required for various types of businesses mentioned in the Kerala Fire force act. The function of the no-objection certificate or fire license is to prove conformity of the business to the approved rules of safety. In this article, we will look at the procedure to obtain a Kerala fire license or no-objection certificate in detail. In case you require any assistance for obtaining fire license in Kerala, get in touch with an IndiaFilings Advisor at sales@indiafilings.com.

Importance of Kerala Fire License

The occupier or owner of any public buildings has to apply and obtain a Kerala Fire License.

Kerala fire license to be acquired for setting up new industries or establishment for carrying out business
Kerala fire license is mandatory for manufacturing and storing of dangerous, hazardous inflammable fuels, explosive items in the factory premises where the units are housed
Kerala fire license or no-objection certificate (NOC) is mandatory for high-rise buildings in the state.

Fire License for Buildings

Fire safety in buildings is an essential area of concern for employers and landlords to keep peoples fully protected and ensure that the file system is fixed properly and free of false alarms. The Kerala fire license is needed to be obtained for the following buildings:

Residential Buildings
Mercantile Buildings
Hospital Buildings
Business Buildings
Assembly Buildings
Educational Buildings
Industrial Buildings
Storage Buildings
Hazardous Buildings

Note on Certificate of Approval

At present, the Kerala Department of Fire and Rescue Services has mandated building owners to obtain Fire license to various types of Buildings in the interest of Public Safety. In Kerala, the fire license is issued in two parts to the occupier or builder. That is given as follows:

Site Clearance Certificate - Site NOC
Final Fire Safety Clearances - Final NOC

The concerned local body has to apply for site Clearance Certificate. After receiving the application, plan and other documents relating to a building from the relevant local authority, the officials from the Department will inspect the site; scrutinise the plan and then issue clearance for start doing the building construction. After the completion of construction, the Department again inspects the concerned site and other firefighting measures and issues a Certificate of Approval.

Applicable Fee for Kerala Fire License

Fee rate mentioned here is for plinth area per square meter, and 50% of the fee will be remitted while applying for site clearance certificate and balance at the time applying for final fire clearance certificate.

Fee for residential and education building is Rs.15000
Fee for remaining buildings is Rs.20000

Validity of the Kerala Fire license

This Certificate of Approval or Kerala fire license certificate is valid for one year from the date of issue.

Application Processing Time

The Kerala fire license, in other words, a clearance certificate will be issued within 30 days from the date of the application at the concerned Fire and Rescue Station.

Documents Required for Site Clearance Certificate

The applicant needs to attach the following documents along with the application to obtain Site Clearance certificate (Site NOC):

Application form in the prescribed method
Covering Letter or Forwarding Letter from the Local Body
Civil Plans approved by the Local Body - 3 Nos.
Three copies of fire System Plans along with one Soft Copy of each
Original Chalan
Affidavit

Documents Required for Final Clearance Certificate

The applicant needs to attach the following documents along with the application to obtain Site Clearance certificate (Final NOC) :

Site Clearance Certificate Copy
One copy of the fire system Plan
Civil Plan and Fire System Plan along with one Soft Copy of each
Application form in prescribed format
Original Challan.
Affidavit

Prescribed Authority

All application has to be submitted to the concerned station officer in whose jurisdiction the building is proposed to be constructed. The prescribed authority for issuing Kerala fire license is tabulated here.

S.No	Height of the Building	Authority issuing site Clearance Certificate (Site NOC)	Authority to Issue Site Clearance Certificate (Final NOC)
1	All Buildings up to 10m in Height	Assistant Divisional Officer	Assistant Divisional Officer
2	The building above 10m up to 16m in Height	Divisional Officer	Divisional Office
3	The building above 16 up to 24m in Height	Divisional Officer	Divisional Officer
4	The Building above 24 up to 45m in Height	Director (Admin.) or Director Technical	Director (Admin.)/ Director Technical
5	The Building above 45m in Height	Director (Admin.) or Director Technical	Director (Admin.)/ Director Technical
6	Assembly Building with Total Plinth Area above 500 square meters	Divisional Officer	Divisional Officer
7	Mercantile building with Plinth Area more than 1000 square meters	Divisional Officer	Divisional Officer
8	All Hospital buildings on each floor	Divisional Officer	Divisional Officer
9	All Storage Buildings	Divisional Officer	Divisional Officer
10	All Hazardous Buildings	Divisional Officer	Director of Fire and Rescue Services. For building above 16 meters - Divisional Officer

Kerala Fire License Application Procedure

The application procedure to obtain Kerala fire license application procedure is explained in step by step procedure here.

Applying for Site clearance certificate or Site NOC

Step 1: The owner who is seeking for Kerala fire license have to submit an application form in prescribed format to concerned site concerned station officer in whose jurisdiction the building is proposed to be constructed. As per the building height, different application forms have to submit for obtaining site clearance.

Download Application Form

The applicant needs to visit the official website of the Department of Fire and Rescue. From the menu bar, click on Services menu and select. By clicking on this list of buildings will be displayed.

Image 1 Kerala Fire License The applicant can select the building as per need; the application forms according to building size will be displayed.

Image 2 Kerala Fire License Click on Download now option to get the hard copy of the application form.

Image 3 Kerala Fire License

Verification by Station Officer

Step 2: The concerned station officer will visit the site along with a leading fireman and send the report to a higher authority within three days of receiving the Application.

District Team Verification and Issuing Site clearance certificate

Step 3: The District Verification Team will scrutinise, verify the report and documents, and the concerned authority will issue the Site clearance certificate. On receiving site clearance certificate, the applicant can go ahead with construction. The Site clearance certificate or Site NOC format is given here:

Applying for a final clearance certificate (Final NOC)

Step 4: On completion of construction, the owner or occupier the checklist cum Application again and also prepares a Fire Plan Drawing and submit to station officer in whose jurisdiction the building is constructed. The application form final clearance certificate is attached here:

Verification by station officer

Step 5: The concerned station officer will visit the building to ensure that the building construction is completed with firefighting Installations. Step 6: If the construction is completed with Fire Fighting Installations, the Station Officer will forward the Application Form cum Checklist to the concerned higher authority within five days of receiving the Application.

Site verification by Inspection Team

The inspection team of the authorised and competent Officials of this fire and rescue department will inspect and verify the arrangements made and send it to the higher authority for issuing site clearance certificate.

Get Clearance certificate or Final No-Objection certificate

The district verification team will scrutinise, verify the report and documents, and the concerned authority will issue the clearance certificate. The format of clearance certificate is attached here:

Kerala Fire License Renewal

As stated above, this Certificate of Approval or Kerala fire license certificate is valid for one year from the date of issue. After one year the certificate or license must be renewed. Non-Renewal of the license within the time limit may result in loss of eligibility for insurance coverage and appropriate legal action by Government, Revenue Department or any other Department body. Know more about Tamil Nadu Fire license