On the cards: Body to monitor charities’ finances in the offing

Commission being constituted in connection with the NAP

LAHORE:

A provincial body is being instituted to keep a check on financial particulars of and use of donations by philanthropic organisations, senior government officials have told The Express Tribune.

The Charities’ Commission will function under the oversight of the Home Department and monitor how charitable organisations spend donations. The commission will also monitor religious seminaries and mosques, functioning as charitable organisations, to ensure that they use donations to fund exactly what they collect charity in name of. The commission will also track philanthropic organisations’ various sources of funding.



The commission is being established in connection with the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism. A draft of the commission has been approved by the Law Department and has been forwarded to the chief minister for approval.

According to the draft, details of which have been shared with The Express Tribune, the commission will be presided over by a charities’ commissioner. The word “purpose” has also been defined in the draft.

“Charitable organisations will have to inform the government as to what they intend to collect donations for. Action will be taken against them if they use the money for any other purpose. Many charities which include religious seminaries put donations to use as they deem fit,” a senior bureaucrat told The Express Tribune.

“Geo-tagging of all religious seminaries across the Punjab has been completed. We have collected information about teachers, students and their sects. The vast majority of religious seminaries function on charity. They have internal audit systems in place but there is no way to ascertain where funds raised are spent,” a Home Department official told The Express Tribune.  He said it would be binding on them to spend funds for exactly the purposes they had been raised for following the establishment of the commission. “If a seminary receives a million rupees in a donation to fund the construction of lodging for students, the money received may not be used to publish literature,” the official said.

“Heads of charitable organisations will also not be allowed to get remunerated for any service rendered. We have seen several heads of charitable organisations draw hefty salaries.

This will be put an end to. One will have to be employed there to get paid. However, trustees can get paid for out-of-pocket expenses. If they travel outstation to raise funds, they can get compensated for expenses incurred,” he said.

The director general of public relations (DGPR) confirmed that that the commission was being established.

He said the world was replete with organisations established to monitor charitable organisations’ finances. The official said this was exactly why the commission was being instituted.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2016.