Treasury MPAs oppose govt’s Zakat bill

Lawmakers say only elected member should be chairperson of council

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government faces opposition from within its own ranks in the provincial assembly on the Zakat and Ushr Council bill. The government introduced a bill to amend the Zakat and Ushr law, but some clauses were opposed by the government's own members, forcing it to postpone the bill.

During the assembly session on Friday, the bill was included in the agenda for approval, but when the provincial law minister presented the bill, opposition members proposed amendments. MPA Ahmad Kundi opposed the inclusion of non-elected members in the provincial Zakat council and suggested that an elected member of the assembly should be the chairman.

The speaker of the assembly also asked the law minister why an MPA was not included in the council. The law minister replied that the chairman would be appointed according to the conditions set for the council, and since MPAs cannot participate in meetings as delegates, their eligibility would be compromised.

Despite several discussions between the law minister and opposition members, the minister failed to convince them. Government members, including Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, Zahoor Shah Toru, Liaquat Khan, Munir Hussain, and Anwar Zaib, opposed the bill and demanded that the chairman of the council should be an MPA, not a bureaucrat.

The government members opposed their own minister, and the law became a headache for the government. The speaker sent the bill back to the standing committee for further consideration, and it will be discussed again next week with new proposals.

Motor vehicle amendment bill

Meanwhile, the K-P Assembly, during its session on Friday, approved the Provincial Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, which establishes a Police Welfare Fund with 10 percent of the traffic fines collected. Additionally, the assembly approved amendments to the Police Act 2017, which sets a ratio for the recruitment of assistant sub-inspectors in the police department.

Both bills were introduced in the provincial assembly on July 26, and the law minister presented separate motions for approval on Friday, which were approved by a majority vote.

According to the amended Motor Vehicles Ordinance 1965, 35 per cent of the traffic fines collected by the traffic police are distributed among the relevant ticketing officers and others in different ratios. Five percent is given as cash rewards, and 25 percent is spent on machinery, equipment, and training for traffic personnel.

The new amendments maintain the same provisions for ticketing officers and cash rewards, but out of the 25 per cent fine collection reserved for purchasing equipment and training to the Police Welfare Fund, 10 per cent will be allocated to Police Welfare Fund, and the remaining 15 per cent will be used for purchasing equipment and training.

Similarly, in the second approved bill making amendments to the Police Act 2017, 50 percent of the posts of Assistant Sub-Inspectors will be filled from head constables based on the recommendations of the departmental selection committee, 25 percent of the posts will be filled on merit by head constables recommended through the Public Service Commission, 12.5 percent will be filled directly through the Public Service Commission, and 12.5 percent will be filled by the heirs of police martyrs.

According to the amendments, if any posts reserved for the children of police martyrs remain vacant, they will be filled through initial recruitment by the Public Service Commission.