ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Friday announced a 20 per cent increase in the value of diyat (compensation for mur­der payable to the heirs), raising it to Rs8.1 million for the fiscal year 2024-25, and also reduced the return on provident funds.

According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Finance, the government has set the value of diyat at Rs8,103,955, as required under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) of 1860. This amount reflects the value of 30,630 grams of silver under Sub-Section 2 of Section 323 of the PPC.

The notified value of diyat stood at Rs6,757,902 for the fiscal year 2023-24, marking an unprecedented 56pc increase over Rs4,318,524 in FY23.

Section 323 of the PPC requires that the court must, subject to the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah and keeping in view the financial position of the convict and the heirs of the victim, fix the value of diyat, which should not be less than the value of 30,630 grams of silver.

Sub-Section 2 of this section requires the federal government to declare, by notification in the official Gazette, the value of silver on the first day of July each year or on a date it may deem fit, which will determine the diyat amount for the fiscal year.

In another notification, the finance ministry reduced the return on provident funds to 13.97pc during the fiscal year 2023-24. The rate will apply to both the General Provident Fund (GPF) and the Contributory Provident Fund (CPF). It will also apply to all subscriptions and balances within various provident funds during the fiscal year.

The return on provident fund has been reduced from 14.22pc per year, as fixed by the finance ministry for FY23 for the GPF and similar funds.

The notification noted that the ministries of railways and defence will issue separate instructions regarding the applicable profit rates for provident fund balances under their control for FY24.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2024