KARACHI, Nov 17: The Town Nazims and the deputy district officers will be invested with powers of magistrates for one month after seeking approval of the Chief Justice of Sindh High Court to check and control prices of essential commodities, vegetables and fruits.

The decision was taken at a meeting on Saturday presided over by the Chief Secretary, Mohammed Javed Ashraf Husain, to discuss the strategy to control the prices of essential commodities in Ramazan. The City Nazim, Naimatullah Khan, the District Coordination Officer, Shafiqur Rahman Paracha, the secretaries agriculture, food, general administration, director-general of the Bureau of Supply & Prices and other officials attended the meeting.

The meeting decided to constitute 36 special teams for Karachi, two for each town to be headed by town Nazims and DDOs (revenue) of each town. These teams would be assisted by inspectors of the Bureau of Prices and town municipal officers, who would be notified by the agriculture department to act as prosecutors under the provisions of the Profiteering and Hoarding Act of 1977.

It was also decided in the light of the notification issued by the federal government that all of the DCOs working in the province would be notified as controller-general of prices to fix and notify the prices of essential items mentioned in the schedule of the Price Control Act. The DCOs would constitute special teams for control of prices in the interior of the province as well.

The Bureau of Prices & Supply was directed to ensure the availability of quality vegetables and fruits at cheaper rates.

The food department was directed to ensure the availability of wheat flour at prices fixed by the government. It was also decided that all of the DCOs should regularly check the availability of sufficient stocks of essential commodities and issue directions to the stockists to declare their stocks under the Sindh Registration of Godowns Act.