MULTAN, March 20: A meeting of the sub-committee formed by the Experts Advisory Cell of the federal ministry of industries and production to propose tariff structure for the pesticides business for the financial year 2004-05 has been postponed after hitting controversies over the issue of its convenership.

The meeting was scheduled for March 31 in Islamabad. Though, EAC official dealing the pesticides issue has announced tentative date of April 5 to hold the meeting of the sub-committee, stakeholders are sceptical that it will meet even on the new date.

In a surprising move, the EAC has awarded the convenership of the sub-committee to the chairman of Pakistan Crop Protection Association, a body claims to be the representative of local pesticides firms. CropLife Pakistan, another association of pesticides firms having both multinationals (seven) and local (10) companies as its members, had objected to the selection of sub-committee convener, saying only the CLP was the representative body of the pesticides business in Pakistan, that was, registered with the director trade organizations of the federal ministry of commerce.

Sources at the CLP told Dawn that they were considering the option of boycotting the sub-committee meetings until its convenership was with an unlicensed body.