SHAH ALAM, June 17 (Bernama) -- The Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) has made improvements to the procedure for halal certificate issuance following a reprimand in Series 2 of the Auditor-General's Report 2013.

Jais deputy director, Ahmad Zaki Arsad said the department accepted well the reprimand and was always monitoring the halal certificate holders through the monitoring officer of the Surveillance and Audit Unit in the department's Research and Development Division.

He said this was to ensure adherence to the conditions for halal certification.

"Jais has made improvements to the procedure by reducing bureaucracy, among others," he said in response to the Auditor-General's Report which said that managing of halal certification by Jais' Halal Management Section as well as monitoring of the halal certificate holders was rather unsatisfactory.

Ahmad Zaki said the Selangor government through the state executive council had approved a working paper on the restructuring of the Halal Management Section with the addition of 51 posts.

"With the additional posts approved, the section will be taken out of the Research and Development Division to become the Halal Management Division under Jais," he said.

-- BERNAMA