News
Hajj quota under Hajj Policy 2011 declared illegal
LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday declared the hajj quota distribution under Hajj Policy 2011 illegal and directed transparent distribution of quota, Geo News reported.Last week the court had barred the Ministry of Religious Affairs from carrying out the process of allocating hajj quota to private tour operators and sought detailed replies from the federal government and the ministry by June 6.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Umar Ata Bandial passed this order while hearing dozens of writ petitions filed by hajj tour operators against alleged discrimination on part of the Ministry of Religious Affairs in allocation of hajj quota to the operators.
Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique and others representing the main petitioners had contended that the menace of allocating hajj quota to the tour operators of personal liking and disliking had been going on for the last eight years. They said the ministry had been allocating quota among the same tour operators since 2004-05 after receiving kickbacks.
Rebutting the ministry's claim about quota to new operators, the counsel said Saudi government had not barred the Pakistan government from allocating hajj quota to new operators.
They pointed out that the LHC in its judgment against Hajj Policy 2006 had directed the ministry to strictly follow merit and constitutional provisions while making the policy.
On the court's query, a deputy attorney general said that following an agreement between Saudi Arabian and Pakistani authorities and the former issued visas to 650 hajj tour operators, therefore, the ministry was allocating quota to only those operators. He said on order of the SC 96 more operators were awarded the quota.
Courtesy www.geo.tv