As the Center is reluctant to empower provinces under the 18th constitutional amendment, the Sindh government has decided to take up the issue of collecting zakat funds in a bid to enhance its share from Rs 800 million to around Rs 4 billion, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Under the 18th constitutional amendment, Sindh was supposed to get rights of collecting zakat funds in the province and distribute it among the poor. In this regard, the Sindh government had also worked out a comprehensive plan for the funds. With the center’s continuous involvement in the provincial affairs, a high-powered meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah in the federal capital on July 24. It was decided in the meeting that zakat funds’ collection rights would remain with the federal government till 2015, against the 18th amendment.
Following the devolution of federal zakat and ushr ministry under the 18th amendment, the Sindh zakat administration was to be established by the Sindh government and the zakat and ushr department had a forwarded a summary to the law department for vetting of the proposed legislation required for setting up the authority, as well as the approval of chief minister, sources told Pakistan Today.
Prior to the devolution of the zakat ministry at the provincial level, the Central Zakat Administration (CZA) – set up at the federal level – managed the country-wide collection and distribution of alms.
The CZA had power over the provincial Zakat Councils (PZC) of each province. A District Zakat Committee (DZC) was set up in each district, Tehsil Zakat Committees (TZC) in each tehsil (or sub-division), and Local Zakat Committee (LZC) was established to collect alms from each locality. Zakat money officially collected through banks and other agencies was deposited with the CZA, which released specified amounts from time to time to the PZCs.
The major share of these funds was in turn passed on to LZCs through DZCs. In this way, the actual disbursement of zakat to the needy was carried out mainly by the LZCs, whereas payment to institutions such as hospitals, seminaries, welfare organisations and needy students was done by the PZCs. After the establishment of the Sindh Zakat Administration, the province would itself be responsible for zakat collection and distribution, the sources said, explaining that zakat is being charged only on 11 assets contained in the First Schedule of the Zakat and Ushr Ordinance 1980.
These assets include saving bank accounts; notice deposit accounts and receipts; fixed deposit accounts and receipts, saving/deposit certificates accounts and receipts, National Investment Trust (NIT) units, Investment Corporation of Pakistan Mutual Funds Certificates, government securities on which the return is receivable by the holder periodically, securities including shares and debentures of companies and statutory corporations on which return is paid, annuities, life insurance policies and provident fund credit balances.
Meanwhile, ushr is collected on compulsory basis at a rate of 5 percent of the produce from every land owner, grantee, allottee, lessee, lease-holder or land-holder (except the one excluded from the definition of sahib-e-nisab). An individual farmer is exempted from ushr if he is a “mustahiq” or if his produce is less than 948 kg of wheat or its equivalent in value.
The farmers have also been given the opportunity to assess ushr on their own, but an LZC may also make their own assessment. An assessee has been allowed to reduce his ushr liability by one-third if land was irrigated by tubewells and by one-fourth if irrigated by other means, the sources explained.
Furthermore, the sources said, the Sindh government would continue the programme on the pattern of federal policy – provision of stipends to poor students of schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions.
Besides, the regular budget for the students of Deeni Madaris would also be allocated at a rate of Rs 150 for Hifzo Nazira, Rs 375 for Mouqoof Aleh and Rs 750 for Daura Hadith. The students of Model Deeni Madaris and those affiliated with Pakistan Madrasah Education Board (PMEB) would also be paid Zakat – Rs 500 for primary to matric, Rs 750 above matric and upto BA or equivalent and Rs 1,000 MA or equivalent and above.
For health, ceilings for free medical treatment of deserving persons would be Rs 3,000, for indoor patients Rs 2,000 and for outdoor patients respectively. For weddings, Rs 10,000 zakat would be granted to a Mustahiq woman as a one time grant by the local zakat committee.
Moreover, the sources said that Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah had chaired a high level meeting the other day to finalise the issues to be strongly taken before the upcoming meeting of the Council of Common Interest (CCI).
