09 October 2004	Saturday	23 Shaban 1425

PESHAWAR, Oct 8: The NWFP social welfare department will now exclusively look after the affairs of seminaries, including their registration.

Officials said that previously both the social welfare and industry, commerce and labour departments were registering seminaries under various acts, adding that the provincial government had recently approved a summary reallocating the task.

Under the Society Act 1860, the industry department had been conducting registration of the seminaries and non-governmental organizations. Similarly, the social welfare department also registers seminaries and NGOs under different laws.

An official said that the government's move was aimed at avoiding duplication. The NWFP governor's secretariat had already recommended handing over registration of seminaries and NGOs to the social welfare department, but the industry department had opposed the move on various legal grounds.

Sources said that despite the federal government's move to lift a ban in June last, registration of seminaries had not been started in the province. The ban was imposed in 1994 and it was relaxed in 1996 only for 10 days.

There are over 1,400 registered seminaries in the province while there are a large number of unregistered seminaries. It was learnt that the administration of these Madressahs have been eagerly waiting for the resumption of the registration process.

The director social welfare Dr Fakhrul Islam said that the handing over of the authority had not yet been officially notified because of which they were not in a position to start the registration process. "Once we get anything in black and white we will receive the entire record from concerned department and resume the registration process," he added.