ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi, on Monday, gave his assent to the Islamabad Capital Territory Interest Prohibition on Private Loans Bill, 2022 and the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022.
The president approved the bills under Article 75 of the Constitution of Pakistan.
According to “The Islamabad Capital Territory Interest Prohibition on Private Loans Act, 2022”, “(1) No money lender either individually or in group of persons shall lend money for any purpose or advance loan to any person for the purpose of receiving interest thereon, nor shall carry on an interest-based transaction in the Islamabad Capital Territory.”
“Whoever contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1) shall be punished with imprisonment of either description which may extend to ten years but shall not be less than three years and shall also be liable to fine not exceeding one million rupees.”
According to the statement of objects and reasons of the Act, “the injection of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah have explicitly and unequivocally prohibited charging interest on loans and have declared war against those who do not abandon interest; The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan obliges the State to take steps to enable the Muslims of Pakistan, individually and collectively, to order their lives in accordance with the fundamental principles and basic concepts of Islam and to provide facilities whereby they may be enabled to understand the meaning of life according the Holy Quran and Sunnah; It is expedient to make a comprehensive legislation on the subject for covering all the aspects of the mischief of private money lending and matters akin thereto; Interest based loan have badly affected the already poor economic condition of people of Pakistan. Due to private loan transactions public is molested by the lenders who are unable to pay even principal amount.Lenders continuously harass to recover the amount with multiplied interest amount.”
In another “The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022” few amendments were made in the “Public Procurement Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023