Sajid Mehdi disclosed that Senator Kauda Babar had introduced a bill in the Senate that would have moved the PSQCA’s headquarters from Karachi to Islamabad.
The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority’s (PSQCA) headquarters should not be moved from Karachi to Islamabad, according to the recommendation of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Science and Technology, as doing so could cost the government exchequer money.
Sajid Mehdi served as the committee’s chairman for its 25th meeting. According to the PSQCA Act of 1996, the authority’s headquarters shall be in Karachi, and it may establish regional offices at such locations as when and where necessary, with the approval of the federal government, the additional secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology informed the Committee.
He disclosed that Senator Kauda Babar had introduced a bill in the Senate that would have moved the PSQCA’s headquarters from Karachi to Islamabad.
The Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology has been asked to consider and report on the aforementioned bill. He added that the bill was approved by the committee with a majority vote after the committee took into account the amendment to Section he of the PSQCA Act.
According to the additional secretary, the proposed shifting is impractical because it could cost the government’s exchequer. The committee recommended against moving PSQCA’s headquarters from Karachi to Islamabad.
The additional secretary informed the committee during a briefing on the updated status of the hemp policy that a summary regarding the National Industrial Hemp and Medicinal Cannabis Policies had been submitted to Cabinet Division on September 1, 2022, via the Ministries of Narcotics Control, Commerce, and National Food Security and Research.
Additionally, he disclosed that the Cabinet Division had sent the summary for approval to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The committee gave the Ministry of Science and Technology the go-ahead to pursue the Prime Minister’s Office’s request for the earliest possible issuance of the National Industrial Hemp and Medicinal Cannabis Policy.
The committee was also given a briefing on the regularisation of the ministry’s contract and daily wage workers. The additional secretary informed the meeting that 13 National Institute of Electronics (NIE) employees were hired on a contract basis for a Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) project and that when the project was completed, their appointments were terminated because the PSDP project had not been converted to the non-development side. As a result, the employees are not eligible for regularisation.
Nisar Ahmed, Mukhtar Ahmad Malik, Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf, Khursheed Ahmed, and Naveed Aamir Jeeva were present at the meeting. Senior officials from the PSQCA, Karachi, and the Ministry of Science and Technology were also present at the meeting.