This step has been prompted by a fresh application submitted by Ranbaxy to CPCSEA, seeking permission to import 50 Beagles from the USA for experimental purposes. Union Minister of State for Welfare Maneka Gandhi is the chairperson of CPCSEA.

Ranbaxy was involved in a major controversy in March this year, when it imported 50 Beagles from the USA without prior sanction from the Committee.

According to a Ranbaxy executive: ``Since there was some misunderstanding last time, we were forced to give up the Beagles. So we sent an application in July to import another 50 Beagles this time around.'' Two months later, the application which was addressed to member-secretary CPCSEA still awaits clearance because the sub-committee had not been constituted until today.Following the controversy in March, CPCSEA also asked a Delhi-based NGO to compile a report on testing facilities and conditions in which animals are kept at Ranbaxy laboratories.

Sources say the report is favourable; Maneka Gandhi, however, refuses to comment on the issue till the sub-committee gives its opinion on the draft rules prepared by CPCSEA. The opinion of the sub-committee will also determine the fate of Ranbaxy's fresh application.

The draft rules were published last month allowed a 30-day period for allowed anyone to raise objections or make suggestions regarding the rules. The Committee received at least 27 representations in the past one month. Sources say that one of the representations point out that the draft rules apply only to private research institutions, and is therefore discriminatory to the pharmaceutical industry.