Cuttack: The civic body has granted licences to less than 40 per cent of the kalyan mandaps (banquet halls) operating in the city.

"Only those kalyan mandaps, which are eligible according to the guidelines approved by Orissa High Court, will be granted permission to operate," municipal commissioner Bikash Mohapatra said on Tuesday.

Last August, the civic body had implemented a new high court-approved policy for granting licence to the banquet halls.

The guidelines, defining the eligibility criteria for a licence to run a banquet hall, were framed for the first time after the high court had made the practice of acquiring a licence from the municipal corporation mandatory.

Under the new rule, earmarking 40 per cent of the built-up area for parking had been made "a statutory requirement".

In case of the kalyan mandaps functioning for at least five years, 20 per cent built-up area earmarked for parking was permissible on the condition that there would be no parking on public roads.

The corporation had received 187 applications for licence. "We have completed field verification of all the applications. Fifty-nine applications were granted licence after scrutiny, while 10 others are under consideration" additional commissioner of Cuttack Municipal Corporation Suman Behera said.