government should make scrutiny of NGOs before registering them.
The court asked Sarwar Khan, Secretary Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan, as to whether there was any mechanism adopted by the government for monitoring the charity organisations collecting funds.
Deputy Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti told the court that transactions of NGOs funding was being made through banks. However, he said that no procedure is available for checking the local charity organisations and no record is available in this regard.
Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja observed that any work that is done without maintaining record could create problems. Additional Advocate General Punjab Razaq A Mirza submitted that there should be a unified law for both the federal and provincial governments in this regard.
The chief justice remarked if the court was to make the law, it could do in a day but legislation is the job of the government.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa, another member of the bench, observed that people who pay taxes are facing problems while the government is least bothered to take action against those who don’t pay.
The court observed that the government did not take action against the organisations lacking record.
The court directed that both the federal and provincial governments compile a data of those charity organisations collecting charities in the country and submit a report within a week.
During the hearing when the court asked about an NGO namely Barran and its source of funding, Additional Advocate General KPK Mian Arshad Khan told the court that it was heard that the World Health Organization (WHO) is the main source of funding of Baraan.
Justice Dost Muhammad Khan observed that the provincial government can verify it through diplomatic sources as to whether WHO is funding the NGO or some other countries.
The chief justice observed that the infamous NGO spent Rs30 million but nobody knows about the utilisation of this funding. Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing for a week.