KARACHI: The Ministry of Industries (MoI) has violated the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) Ordinance 2002 by not including a member from Sindh on the board of the authority.

According to a ministry notification No 1(30)/2013-Admn-II (Smeda) dated July 3, 2014, a new board of directors of Smeda has been re-constituted.

However, the ministry, in violation of the Smeda Ordinance 2002 which states the board will be of 12 members including 6 ex-officio and 6 private sector members, has reduced the number of board members to 11.

It also dropped the names of secretary commerce and chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) as members Smeda board.

Under the said Ordinance, the federal secretary, ministry of commerce and chairman FBR are the ex-officio members of the Smeda board along with federal minister for industries and production its chairman, including secretary industries, finance and CEO Smeda.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2014