JAVED KHAN
PESHAWAR
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday approved two significant bills, the KP Charities Act, 2025 and the Legal Aid (Amendment) Act, 2025, aimed at streamlining the registration of charitable institutions and restructuring the province’s free legal aid system .
The development came during a session chaired by Speaker Babir Saleem Swati.
The KP Charities Act 2025, introduced by Provincial Law Minister Aftab Alam, mandates that all charitable institutions operating in the province must register with the Provincial Charities Commission, regardless of prior registration under any other law.
Under the new law, every charitable institution will be required to pay a prescribed registration fee, and the certificate issued will be valid for two years, after which it must be renewed upon payment of a renewal fee set by the commission.
According to the statement of objects and reasons, the bill aims to clarify and standardize the registration process and improve the performance of the charitable sector by filtering out inactive institutions.
It also seeks to make the commission financially autonomous by granting it the authority to fix registration and renewal fees.
In a separate move, the Assembly passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Legal Aid (Amendment) Act, 2025, which amends the KP Legal Aid Act 2019 to make the province’s free legal aid system for the poor more viable amid limited financial resources.
The amendment removes the earlier provision for creating a separate legal aid agency and instead assigns the responsibility to the Director General of Prosecution, who will now also serve as the Director General of Legal Aid.
Under the new law, a dedicated wing will be established within the Prosecution Directorate, staffed by government-appointed personnel, to carry out legal aid responsibilities.
The amendment is based on the rationale that setting up a standalone agency with its own infrastructure and staff is not financially feasible.
The move is expected to integrate and optimize existing resources while ensuring that deserving individuals continue to receive legal assistance through a more practical model already supported by an allocated budget.
