BIS Governing Council: DPIIT, QCI officials named for two years

The Centre has appointed the Secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and the Secretary General of the Quality Council of India (QCI) to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Governing Council for two years from 27 November 2026. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution made the appointments through notification S.O. 6006(E), dated 2 November 2026.

The notification places the DPIIT Secretary, whose department is under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in the category representing regulatory authorities or bodies. It places the QCI Secretary General in the category representing scientific and research institutions, technical educational institutions and professional organisations.

Both appointments are against respective vacancies, according to the notification. It identifies the members by their offices rather than naming the individuals holding those positions, and does not identify the outgoing members or explain how the vacancies arose.

Issued by the Department of Consumer Affairs and signed by Additional Secretary Richa Misra, the notification appears in the Gazette of India extraordinary issue dated 3 November 2026. Its issue date is distinct from the commencement of the appointments: the specified terms begin on 27 November, not on the date the notification was issued.

The measure concerns council membership. It does not prescribe a new product standard, alter certification requirements or impose a compliance deadline on manufacturers or consumers.

The legal basis and council structure

The ministry invokes Section 3 of the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016, read with Rule 3 and Rule 4(1) of the Bureau of Indian Standards Rules, 2018. These are the provisions cited for the council’s constitution and the members’ terms of office.

Rule 3 of the 2018 Rules sets out the categories represented on the Governing Council. They include the Union government, Parliament, states and Union territories, consumer organisations, farmers, industry and trade, scientific and professional institutions, regulatory bodies and accreditation bodies.

Under that rule, the minister responsible for the ministry or department having administrative control of BIS is its ex officio president, meaning the position follows from holding that ministerial office. The rules also include the administrative department’s Secretary and the BIS Director General as ex officio members.

Rule 4(1) provides two-year terms for members appointed under the specified representative categories and makes them eligible for reappointment. Separately, Rule 3(2) links a member’s tenure to continued possession of the office by virtue of which that person is a member. The November notification uses office designations for both appointments.

The rules also set out how the council conducts business. Rule 5 requires at least one meeting each year, while allowing the president to convene additional meetings. Ordinary meetings require at least 21 days’ notice; an emergency meeting requires at least seven days’ notice. Seven members constitute the quorum, the minimum attendance ordinarily required to transact business.

Earlier appointments took effect in July

The November appointments follow a separate membership notification issued by the same ministry on 22 April 2026. That notification, S.O. 2104(E), appointed six members against respective vacancies for two years from 24 July 2026.

For consumer representation, the April notification named Pushpa Girimaji, describing her as an author, journalist, consumer rights columnist and consumer safety advocate. It also appointed the Executive Director of RDCIS at the Steel Authority of India and an Executive Director of BEL.

The scientific, research, technical, educational and professional category in that notification included Professor C. V. R. Murty of the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Madras, the Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and the Director of IIM Nagpur.

The April and November notifications therefore specify different commencement dates for the appointments they cover. Neither document presents itself as a complete list of the Governing Council’s membership.

QCI also appears in the proceedings of the council’s tenth meeting, held on 12 May 2026. Those proceedings list its Secretary General, Chakravarthy T. Kannan, among members who requested leave of absence. The November notification does not name Kannan or describe the appointment as his personal reappointment.

Certification and testing on the council’s agenda

BIS’s proceedings of the May meeting illustrate the matters brought before the Governing Council, including certification arrangements, laboratory support, advisory committees and consumer awareness.

At that meeting, the council ratified the reconstitution of the Conformity Assessment Advisory Committee. Conformity assessment concerns determining whether a product, process, system or service meets a standard or specified requirements. The proceedings separately record that the council noted a proposal to support other government laboratories in critical areas.

The distinction between those recorded actions matters: the proceedings describe the committee decision as ratified, but the laboratory-support proposal only as noted. They do not record the same outcome for every agenda item.

The council also sought greater use of technology to improve BIS procedures and systems, according to the proceedings. On public outreach, it recommended inviting MPs and MLAs from the relevant region to standards-promotion activities and increasing media coverage to improve awareness.

For laboratory testing, the proceedings record a specific proposal from council president Pralhad Joshi. He advised BIS to develop an online system to track samples sent to different laboratories and monitor their testing charges, so that laboratories did not charge beyond approved and agreed rates for testing connected with BIS certification.