Bill for holding census every decade endorsed

It would now be submitted in NA for voting

ISLAMABAD: A National Assembly panel on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill, making the holding of population census at least once in 10 years legally binding.

The bill also stipulated giving meaningful representation to provinces in a policy making body that had a critical role in national statistical affairs.

The General Statistics (Reorganisation) Amendm-ent Bill, 2016, was moved by Qaumi Watan Party chief Aftab Ahamd Sherpao as a private member’s bill but eventually he won the endorsement of the members of the ruling party.

The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Statistics unanimously approved the bill, which would now be submitted in the lower house of Parliament for voting. The bill was also backed by lawmakers of the PML-N, PPP and MQM.

Through the bill, the mover sought two key amendments in the law governing the affairs of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) – the body responsible for holding the population census.

According to key proposals, it would be legally binding upon the governments to hold population census at least once in 10 years.

Currently, it is not legally binding to hold the census and as a result, the census is postponed indefinitely.

The committee also approved another amendment, which if approved by the NA, would increase the strength of the members of governing council of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) from seven to 11. Sherpao proposed that four new members should be nominated from each of the provinces in consultation with the respective provincial governments.

Asif Bajwa, the Chief Statistician of the PBS, said that all provinces were given due representation after the issue of non-representation of two provinces was highlighted in January this year.

However, the government appointed governing council members without consulting with the provinces.

Property valuation

The committee also constituted a four-member sub-committee to finalise a tax amnesty scheme for the realty sector after the Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) backtracked from its commitment to pay taxes under new property valuation rates.

The ABAD and other representatives of the realty sector signed a deal with the government on July 31 this year on the basis of which the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had notified new valuation rates. The move was supported by ABAD.

On Wednesday, Arif Jeeva of the ABAD demanded that the FBR should suspend the new valuation rates for at least a year and renegotiate a deal.

The demand was rejected by the Chairman FBR, Nisar Khan, who maintained that ABAD and its affiliates paid just Rs8.5 billion in taxes last year, which “does not match their flourishing business”.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2016.