Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved a proposal for bringing in industry-friendly reform related to Authority Holding Sealed Particulars (AHSP). The AHSP is the authority which is responsible for generating, maintaining, updating or declaring obsolete the entire history and technical information of defence products.
Previously, Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) was the AHSP for majority of defence items designed, developed and manufactured by various DPSUs and private industries. Under the existing procedure, certain bottlenecks were experienced by the industry to bring timely improvements in their products and technologies in line with changing times. To remove these bottlenecks, the ministry has decided to liberalise the AHSP procedures and make it industry-friendly, according to an MoD release on Tuesday.
The Indian defence companies, which have developed products, systems, subsystems, components on their own indigenous capabilities (except critical stores), will now be allowed to own and account for their final designs and specification as AHSP. In case of any change in the sealed particulars, a simplified mechanism representing all the concerned stakeholders, including the industry, will take a decision. The DGQA will notify the detailed procedure in this regard within two months, the ministry said.
The DGQA has also been asked to examine all AHSPs with them and rationalise the entire list within two months.They have been further advised to transfer the AHSP to the industry at the earliest. It will be another significant step of the government to further encourage ‘ease of doing business’, it added.
