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BALOCHISTAN ZAKAT AND USHR BALOCHISTAN ZAKAT AND USHR ACT, 2012 An Act to make provisions relating to the assessment, collection and disbursement of Zakat and Ushr [Gazette of Balochistan, Extraordinary, 27th March, 2012] No.PAB/Legis:V(01)/2012, dated 27-3-2012.---Having been passed the Balochistan Zakat and Ushr Bill No.1 of 2012, by the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan on 20th March, 2012 and assented to by the Governor, Balochistan on 22nd March, 2012 is hereby published as an Act of the Balochistan Provincial Assembly. Preamble.--Whereas it is necessary to make provisions relating to the assessment, collection and disbursement of Zakat and Ushr and matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. And whereas Zakat, including Ushr, is one of the fundamental pillars (Arkan) of Islam; and prime objective of the collection of Zakat and Ushr, and disbursements therefrom, is to assist the needy, the indigent and the poor; And whereas the rates of Zakat and Ushr, as also the purposes for the utilization of Zakat and Ushr, are specified in Shariah; and And whereas Shariah enjoins all Muslims who are Sahib-e-Nisab to pay, and the State to arrange for the proper collection, disbursement and utilization of Zakat and Ushr, and also allows such Muslims to disburse for the purposes authorized by Shariah the part thereof not collected by the State; It is hereby enacted as follows:-- CHAPTER-III USHR 6. Mode of assessment and collection of Ushr.--(1) The Balochistan Provincial Revenue Department shall assess and collect Ushr in respect of a land-owner, guarantee, lessee, lease-holder or land-holder in the prescribed manner, and maintain the record containing such information for a crop season as may be required for the purposes of the Act. (2) In the case of lease in force immediately before the commencement of this Act or, after the commencement of the Finance Act, 1990 the liability of the lessor and lessee to pay Ushr shall be equitably apportioned between them by the Tehsildar. (3) An assessee aggrieved by the assessment under subsection (1), or as the case may be, a lessor or lessee aggrieved by the apportionment under subsection (2), may, within thirty days of the Provincial Revenue Department announcing the assessment, or, as the case may be, apportionment, apply, in the prescribed form and manner to the Assistant Commissioner or Sub-Divisional Magistrate a revision of the assessment or appointment: Provided that no such application shall be admitted unless the applicant has deposited into the District Zakat Fund not less than fifty per cent of his liability as assessed or apportioned by the Provincial Revenue Department. (4) The Assistant Commissioner or Sub-Divisional Magistrate may, at any time, either of his own motion or on the application of an adult Muslim residing within his jurisdiction, make an order enhancing the liability assessed under subsection (1) or apportioned under subsection (2): Provided that no such order shall be made unless the person affected has been given an opportunity of showing cause against it and of being heard. (5) The Assistant Commissioner or Sub-Divisional Magistrate to whom application is made under subsection (3) or subsection (4), or who takes up a matter under subsection (4) of his own motion, shall give his decision within a period not exceeding one month counted from the date on which he receives the application or, as the case may be, so takes up the matter; and such decision shall be final and shall not be questioned before any court or other authority. (6) The demand as determined under subsection (1), or, as the case may be, under subsection (1) or subsection (5), shall be paid by the assessee and Collected by the Provincial Revenue Department in such manner as may be prescribed and deposited into the Provincial Zakat Fund. (7) Where the recovery of Ushr compulsorily realizable under this Act falls into arrears, the Tehsildar shall proceed to recover the amount so specified as if it were arrears of land revenue.