Chandigarh Pulse

Whether it is lack of professional expertise or staff crunch, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has finally decided to outsource product certification services to private agencies. One of these agencies would also be given assignments to conduct raids as and when required. These groups are expected to start work in a few weeks.

Northern region office of the BIS in Chandigarh has finalized seven agencies for product certification and one agency for enforcement of raids.

Confirming the move, Bhupinder Singh, deputy director general, Northern Regional Office, BIS, said “We have finalized agencies for tasks related to product certification and enforcement raids. We believe the step will benefit the whole region and improve overall efficiency of the department as well.”

A senior BIS official told  that they are finding it difficult to conduct raids due to shortage of required manpower. “Many times our officers failed to gather evidence against violators and the perpetrators managed to go scot-free due to a staff crunch in national standards body,” said an official.

“Through outsourcing, we will be able to overcome the problem. This way, we can collect information in a more reliable manner,” an official said.

These private executives would be able to contribute valuable information as they would be working at the grassroots level. Some of them will assist our officers in conducting the raids, another BIS official said.

The new agencies will not only cover Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali, but will also Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir region for carrying out operations.

Even as the outsourced units would be part of the BIS brigade, final approval for product certification and enforcement raids would be given by the BIS officials, who would be the only ones authorized to sign documents.

Before shortlisting the companies, BIS had floated tenders for the job.