Money matters: Sindh govt to take over Zakat collection

A letter will be written stating that the mechanism will be effective from this year.

KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to start the collection of Zakat and will write letters to the federal government and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) about their intention.

During a meeting at Chief Minister House on Monday, chief secretary Muhammad Siddique Memon said that the Sindh Assembly passed the Zakat and Ushr Bill, 2011 after the 18th Amendment but allowed the federal government to collect the Zakat. He added that, under the bill, the provincial government has constituted a Zakat Council and will have the power to collect and distribute Zakat.

Inter-provincial coordination secretary Qazi Shahid Parvez said that the legal and constitutional position of the provincial government for the collection and distribution of Zakat was very clear. A committee constituted by the Council of Common Interest (CCI) in its meeting had decided to continue the Zakat collection and distribution mechanism till 2015, he added.

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, who was chairing the meeting, directed Memon to write a letter to the federal government, particularly the CCI secretary, stating that the Sindh government has decided to collect Zakat from the current year.

Shah also directed the official to write another letter to the SBP for the collection of Zakat on behalf of the provincial government. "I would suggest you hold a meeting with the SBP deputy governor and formulate and finalise the mechanism for collection and transfer of Zakat in the provincial government account," he directed.

Shah also directed the Zakat council and secretary to explore other means of Zakat collection, apart from deduction from the banks.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2016.