New Delhi: The Indian government is setting up a 15-member joint parliamentary committee (JPC) under the chairmanship of Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party.

The JPC will go into the controversy over the reported presence of pesticides in soft drinks (See ) and is expected to submit its report by the beginning of the next session of the Parliament.

The 15-member JPC, comprising 10 members from the Lok Sabha and five from the Rajya Sabha, will assess the findings of the Centre for Science and Environment, the environmental organisation that had alleged the presence of pesticide residues in soft drinks, much above the limits laid out by the European Union norms.

The committee will also suggest the criteria for norms that will outline safety standards for soft drinks, fruit juices and other beverages where water is the main constituent, Parliamentary Affairs Minister and Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj informed both the Houses of the Parliament.

Pawar was appointed chairman by Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi. Other members from the Lok Sabha include Ananth Kumar, and Dr Sudha Yadav (both from the Bharatiya Janata Party), Ramesh Chennithala and Avatar Singh Badana (Congress), Yerran Naidu (Telugu Desam Party), E Ahmed (Muslim League), Ranjit Kumar Panja (Trinamool Congress), Akilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Anil Basu from the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Those nominated from the Rajya Sabha are S S Ahluwalia (BJP), Prithviraj Chavan (Congress), Sanjay Nirupam (Shiv Sena), Prem Chand Gupta (Rashtriya Janata Dal) and Prasanta Chatterjee from the CPI (M).