Zakat Council told to seek scholarly opinion on distribution of Zakat under Benazir Muawinat Card

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the Zakat Council to seek the opinion of Islamic scholars with regard to the Sindh government’s decision of distributing Zakat in the name of Benazir Muawinat Cards.

Hearing a petition with regard to the distribution of zakat to deserving and poor people, a single bench of the high court headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar observed that the court had earlier questioned the legality about the distribution of Zakat through the Benazir Muawinat Card as these cards were previously distributed in name of Rozgar allowance.

The Zakat secretary submitted that the provincial government had decided that Zakat would be distributed under the name of the Benazir Muawinat Card. The high court directed the Zakat Council to seek opinion of Islamic scholars on the issue and proceed accordingly as per the direction of the court.

The bench had earlier taken exception to the conversion of Guzara allowance into the Benazir Muawinat Card by the Sindh government and observed that the provincial government could not utilise Zakat funds to gain political mileage. The SHC had observed that the distribution of Zakat with the title of Benazir Muawinat Card was shocking because it plainly gave an impression that such a help was being offered by the government which was not the case in the distribution of Zakat.

The high court directed the council to examine issues of reallocation of funds within the spirit of the orders of the court. Representatives of public sector universities submitted that some of the universities had received Zakat funds for poor students partially with regard to their scholarships. The bench directed the Zakat secretary to ensure that the allocated amount was received by all the universities within 10 days and the universities shall ensure that the same shall be provided to the students as per the policy and standard operating procedures.

The Zakat secretary submitted that the allocated amount of Zakat funds would be distributed to every public university and college within a week.

Regarding the registration of orphanage centres, the Sindh advocate general submitted that around 34 institutions of orphanage houses had been registered and the rest would be registered within three months.

The social welfare department secretary submitted that the department would launch a pilot project for orphans in Korangi, which was yet to be finalised, whereas, the project in District Malir was functional.

The SHC observed that it was a matter of fact that when issue of orphans was discussed, certain irregularities/illegalities were surfaced in the shape that funds reserved for endowment funds meant for scholarship for meritorious and poor students had been utilised by children of high officials of the Sindh government who studied in foreign countries and private universities. After taking the reports on record, the SHC disposed of the applications.