Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
A parliamentary body of Upper House of parliament on Wednesday passed a bill related to shifting Headquarter of Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) from Karachi to federal capital.
The bill “Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022” was passed in the Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology, which held on Wednesday in parliament house while Senator Sardar Muhammad Shafiq Tareen was on chair.
The bill was passed by a majority vote while Senator Rukhsana Zuberi and Senator Kamran Murtaza opposed it. The committee discussed in detail the “Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022”, moved by Senator Kaida Babar. Officials from the ministry and Senators lent their insight on the amendment bill.
The Chairman committee doubted the shifting of PSQCA headquarter from Karachi and said that Karachi is the economic hub of the country which generates the maximum revenue. What would be the effect of relocating the organization, he inquired? The official from the ministry while responding to the query asserted that in an emergency it is difficult and time-consuming to travel from Islamabad-Karachi and vice-verse, therefore, being think tank of the Ministry, the PSQCA needs to be shifted from Karachi to Islamabad as all the Headquarters and the Ministry sit here in the capital.
The Acting Director-General PSQCA informed the committee that out of 800 employees 300 are in Karachi, adding that the ministry simply wants to shift the operational setup (including policy decision-makers) to Islamabad. He maintained that only 30 employees, inter alia, including Director General, Director, Director Legal, Director Finance and Director Human Resources will be relocated.
Minister for Science and Technology underlined that PSQCA is an important organization and indispensable for checking the quality and standard of those items and commodities which are import/export.
