The government has decided to form a technical committee for raising the earnings from marriage registration in a bid to boost non-NBR revenue, officials said.
An inter-ministerial meeting at the Finance Ministry last week made the decision after reviewing a complaint that the marriage registrars, better known as the Kazis, had not deposited enough money to the government exchequer in the form of Kazi Licence Fees since July 1, 2012.
An official of the Law Ministry said earning from this sector started declining a couple of years ago after a provision was introduced binding the Kazis to deposit a certain amount to the exchequer every year.
The technical committee will also advise the law and finance ministries whether to bring any change to the marriage registration fee. Sources said the government had kept the fee unchanged since 1997.
Until Junly 1, 2012, the government was supposed to get 5% of the first Tk1,000 and 25% of the remaining amount of the total “mohorana.”
Mohorana is the security money that a Muslim groom pledges to pay the bride as compensation in case there is a divorce. However, that rule was changed later and the new rule bound the Kazi to deposite a certain amount of his income to the government exchequer. There are allegations, that the Kazis have not been paying the amount that they should have to the government.
Abdul Jalil Mahaji, president of the association of marriage registrars, told the Dhaka Tribune: “It is not true. Every Kazi has to deposited a part of his earning as non-NBR tax to the government.”
He also said NBR officials regularly conducts inspections to find out whether they had paid their dues to the government.
Law Minister Anisul Huq said: “We will take all necessary steps to strictly implement laws and make sure that there is a significant earning from marriage registration.”
At present, there are a total of 7,500 marriage registrars across the country.
In 2005, the united Dhaka city corporation earned Tk6 crore from the marriage and birth registration fees. However, in the following years, earning from this sector dropped significantly, prompting the two current city corporations to cut down the revenue target.
Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has set a target for earning Tk1.50 crore in the ongoing 2014-15 fiscal year. Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC)’s target for the same period is Tk2 crore. During the fiscal year, DSCC and DNCC earned Tk2.48 crore and Tk1.25 crore respectively.
For 2014-15, the government’s target for non-NBR earning was fixed at Tk5,575 crore. Last year, the target was Tk5,178 crore.
