MULTAN, Nov 2: The board of directors of the Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute has disbanded its special sub-committee constituted to finalize recommendations for the implementation of the Cotton Standardization Ordinance, 2002.

In its third meeting held in Karachi on Saturday last with Federal Agriculture Secretary Salik Nazeer Ahmed in chair, the board also turned down most of the suggestions put forward by the sub-committee.

In its second meeting on May 12 last, the PCSI board had formed the sub-committee with Agricul-ture Development Commissioner Muhammad Haneef as its head to give final touches to the recommendations forwarded by the board executive committee vis-a-vis the cotton standardization ordinance.

According to sources, the board observed that the suggestions of the sub-committee were against the spirit of the ordinance issued by the President of Pakistan on Oct 4, 2002. It underscored the need of a monitoring body in the form of PCSI to uphold cotton standards. It observed that the matter of cotton standardization could not be left to the mere ‘volunteer’ exercise of the growers and ginners.

A source in the agriculture ministry told Dawn that the sub-committee had almost ‘opposed’ the cotton standardization ordinance as it disagreed with the regulatory role of the PCSI to uphold standards of cotton in the country on the grounds that this (regulatory role) had no scope in the government policy of deregulation and market economy. The institute, however, could only recommend measures to the government to develop/modify grades and classification of cotton.

The source said that the sub-committee had observed that the cotton standardization was a volunteer exercise and the PCSI, however, could provide services to the ginners willing to press contamination-free cotton bales. The sub-committee had envisioned the PCSI role to the extent of a training facility.

Instead, he said, the sub-committee wanted the private sector to come up and play a role to fashion cotton standardization in the country. The sub-committee, however, suggested that the PCSI institution in Karachi and its regional offices in Multan and Sukkur should be reorganized to conduct training for cotton grading and classification. The sub-committee had also disagreed with the proposed strength of the PCSI comprising 463 personnel, saying the existing strength of 171 was also high.

In its third meeting, the PCSI board also discussed the proposed role of the private sector in maintaining cotton standards and reportedly decided that the PCSI would register the firms willing to play a role in the standardization process.

An Aptma representative on the PCSI board raised a question that who would be held responsible in case of a wrong certificate by a private firm vis-a-vis grade and quality of the cotton. The board reportedly observed that the firms would have to meet the standards of PCSI and that they might be asked to deposit some cash as guarantee to their certificate.