The Sindh government, in principle, has decided to start collection of zakat for which a letter is being sent to the federal government while a similar request will also be made to the State Bank of Pakistan.
This decision was taken in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah at the Chief Minister’s House on Monday.
Chief Secretary Siddiq Memon told the meeting that after the 18th Amendment, the Sindh Assembly had passed the Zakat and Usher Bill, 2011, under which, the provincial government had constituted the Zakat Council and the same law allowed the government to collect and distribute zakat.
Secretary Inter-provincial Coordination Qazi Shahid Parvez said that the legal and constitutional position of the Sindh government for collection and distribution of zakat was very clear. He said that a committee constituted by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) had, in its meeting, decided to continue zakat collection and distribution mechanism till 2015.
CM Qaim said that the Sindh government would collect zakat from 2016 and the federal government would be informed in this respect. He directed the chief secretary to write a letter to the federal government, particularly the CCI secretary, for information that the Sindh government had taken a formal decision to collect zakat from this year on its own.
The chief minister also directed the chief secretary to write another letter to the State Bank for collection of zakat on behalf of the provincial government. “I would suggest to you to have a meeting with the State Bank of Pakistan deputy governor and formulate and finalise a mechanism for collection of zakat and transfer the same in the accounts of the provincial government,” he added.
It may be noted that presently the federal government gives 23.7 per cent share of its total collection of zakat funds to Sindh.
The chief minister directed the Zakat Council and Zakat secretary to explore other ways and means of collection of zakat, apart from deduction from the banks.
He also urged the chief secretary to suggest formation of a zakat council afresh in which representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other people of good repute be included.
The meeting was attended by Senior Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah, CM’s Advisor on Zakat Dost Mohammad Rahmoo, Sindh Zakat Council Chairman Justice (r) Zahid Qurban Alvi, Chief Secretary Siddique Memon, Principal Secretary to CM Alamuddin Bullo, Finance Secretary Sohail Rajput, Zakat Secretary Riaz Memon, Inter-provincial Coordination Secretary Qazi Shahid Parvez and others.
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