LAHORE, April 15: The Punjab government wants a mid-term dissolution of all 25,418 district, tehsil and local Zakat committees in the province to provide the PML-Q men and women an opportunity to get themselves elected on the new committees.

The government expressed its desire for the dissolution of the committees elected in 2001 soon after assumption of office last year. It was informed that the existing committees had been elected for a three-year term and only President Pervez Musharraf could order premature dissolution of the committees.

A committee was also constituted for getting the existing zakat bodies dissolved but the government has not formally requested President Musharraf in this regard.

The elections of the committees are due next year.

As many as 228,762 government stalwarts (127,090 men and 550,836 women) can be accommodated to 25,418 committees — 34 district, 117 tehsil and 25,267 local committees — in the province.

One committee has been constituted at a village or ward level with population not exceeding 10,000. Every committee comprises two women and seven men above 45 years of age with good reputation and sound financial standing.

Elections of the local Zakat committees are held at the mosques of the area. These committees elected the tehsil and district members which include a gazetted officer.

Local committees are the backbone of the system because not even a single rupee from the Zakat fund cannot be distributed without their recommendation.

Any irregularity committed by a committee cannot be detected unless someone complains about it because of the absence of any system of scrutiny.

The district committees and provincial council give the approval for disbursement of funds on the recommendations of the local Zakat committees but cannot distribute funds on their own.

Even the chief minister, ministers for Zakat and Ushr cannot distribute any rupee from the Zakat fund without the recommendation of the local committees.

The local Zakat committees process the distribution of hundreds of thousands of rupees in the form of subsistence allowance, medical assistance, educational scholarships and assistance under the permanent rehabilitation scheme every year.