Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry on Friday ordered constituting a division bench (DB) to hear petitions challenging the Haj Policy 2011 and allotment of Haj quota. Earlier, petitioner’s counsel Azhar Siddique told the court that the Federal Religious Affairs Ministry had started allotment of quota to private tour operators in 2005 and it was allotted on personal likes and dislikes by the then federal religious affairs minister.
He said that the LHC had declared in 2007 that the Haj Policy could not be against fundamental rights and the federal government should form a policy on merit. Siddique said that even today, the ministry was allotting the quota on basis of personal likes and dislikes, whereas, it had banned quota for new Haj operators through a notification. The federation’s counsel argued that the ban was imposed on directions of the Saudi government and international agreements were present in this regard.
The petitioner’s counsel said no agreement was presented in court and questioned whether the agreement was according to international laws and constitution. After hearing the arguments, the LHC CJ ordered constituting a division bench, which would hear the petitions from June 1. The LHC CJ was hearing various petitions filed by various tour operators challenging the Haj Policy 2011. The petitioners submitted that the Federal Religious Affairs Ministry allotted the Haj quota 2011 to private tour operators on basis of personal liking and political influence.
They maintained that travel agents wrote many times to the Federal Religious Affairs Ministry to provide the Haj Policy 2011 but it was neither provided nor advertised. They said that five notifications had been issued according to the policy, which was based on mala fide. The petitioners submitted that paid-up capital for new operators had been increased from Rs 5 million to 20 million and Rs 0.5 million would also be received for the Haj Fund.
They said that new operators would not be given quota for Haj 2011, which was a violation of article 25, 18 and 4 of the constitution. The petitioners requested the court to declare the Haj Policy 2011 illegal with respect to private tour operators.