LAHORE, Feb 16: The Punjab Baitul Maal Council on Wednesday approved the distribution of Rs44 million unspent funds among the district Baitul Maal committees with excellent performance.

The council, which met here with Punjab Baitul Maal Amin Justice Akhtar Hassan Malik (retired) in the chair, was informed that provincial Baitul Maal Minister Ijaz Shafi had sent a reference note through secretary, Social Welfare, Women Development and Baitul Maal proposing distribution of unspent amounts of Rs42 million and Rs1.6 million lying in two accounts among the district committees with excellent performance.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, the Baitul Maal Amin said that unspent funds were related to the period when the district committees had not been formed for providing financial assistance to the deserving people. He said the amount was almost equal to Baitul Maal's annual grant of Rs50 million.

The council decided to distribute the unspent funds among the district committees with excellent performance on the one hand and reinstatement of Faisalabad and Hafizabad district Baitul Maal committees' chairmen suspended on account of failure to distribute the funds and monitor their performance on the other.

Council members from Faisalabad opposed the reinstatement of the district committee chairman pointing out he had not even bothered to submit a reply to the show-cause notice.

Moreover, the vice-chairman had arranged distribution of funds satisfactorily following his suspension. He was of the view that reinstatement of the chairman would create a rift in the committee and hamper the distribution of funds.

The council also approved the proposal for transferring Baitul Maal funds from the personal ledger account of director general/secretary, Punjab Baitul Maal, into its PLS account to facilitate payment of grants through cheques for saving the recipients from the difficulties experienced for the encashment of pay orders.

The Amin said that he had received complaints in respect of extortion of Rs400 for encashment of pay orders by the National Bank employees. Another member pointed out that the banks insisted on opening of accounts with Rs1,000 for the encashment of pay orders.

The council did not approve the proposal to place the discretionary grant of Rs500,000 at the disposal of the Baitul Maal administrative committee instead of the Amin.

The members opined that if the distribution of the grant was entrusted to the committee the deserving people would have to wait for its meetings for sanction of funds instead of getting the grant in hour of need.

The council approved the proposal to waive the condition for production of the 'nikah nama' for the receipt of marriage grant. The district committees were allowed to release grant on the condition that the 'nikah nama' would be produced within a month after the marriage.

The council approved an amendment to its rules assuming the power to take decisions in respect of sanctioning grants to the NGOs and allowing any of its members to scrutinize the cases for sanctioning financial assistance to the NGOs instead of only the member belonging to that district.

The members did not agree to the proposal to hold the council meetings every month and decided to meet once in every two months instead. The meeting was attended by council members Dr Muhammad Yasin, Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Mrs Maimoona Shaheen, Azmat Hussain and M.A Shaida along with Punjab Social Welfare, Women Development and Baitul Maal secretary Saeed Ahmed Khan and Social Welfare director-general Raees Abbas Zaidi.