The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday adjourned the hearing of a contempt petition against Federal Religious Affairs Secretary Shaukat Hayat Durrani and Haj Director General Syed Abu Akif until July 4.
Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed was hearing a petition filed by Ashfaq Ahmed Mirza, through his counsel Azhar Siddique, against the said officials for deliberately defying the LHC order regarding cancellation of the quota allotted to private Haj Group Organisers (HGO) and allocation of the same on merit. Earlier, the federal government and the Federal Religious Affairs Ministry’s counsel appeared in court and sought time to file reply.
The petitioner submitted that a LHC full bench on June 6 had directed the Federal Religious Affairs Ministry to cancel the Haj quota and allocate it to HGOs according to a fresh procedure. Mirza said that soon after the verdict, he approached the ministry for implementation of the court order in letter and spirit but the ministry refused to do so on the pretext that the entire quota allotted to the previous Haj organisers had been exhausted, therefore, it would not be possible for it to act upon orders.
He also pointed out that names of 736 previous HGOs were still placed on the ministry’s website despite the fact that the LHC had cancelled their quota. The petitioner said that material on the ministry’s website was enough to establish contempt of the court on part of the authorities. Mirza said that contempt of court proceedings should be initiated against the federal religious affairs secretary, Haj director general and others for not complying with the court order.
