The Lahore High Court restrained the Ministry of Religious Affairs on Wednesday from allotting the Hajj quota for Hajj 2012 to the old Hajj Group Organisers (HGOs).
The court directed that that the Hajj quotas will be allotted to the old as well as the new HGOs who qualify under the new policy.
The court also sought a reply from respondents on the application within a week and adjourned the matter till May 9th.
Justice Umar Ata Bandial passed the order on a civil miscellaneous application filed by Travel Channel International Limited and others in a pending matter.
The petitioner’s counsel had submitted that the Religious Affairs Ministry was bound to allot the quotas to the new and old HGOs, under the Hajj policy of 2012.
The petitioner stated that the ministry had violated the policy and allotted quotas to 721 old HGOs.
The counsel pointed out that if the enrolment was made according to the Hajj policy of 2012, then more than fifty percent of the old HGOs would be disqualified as they did not fulfill the requirements laid out in the policy.
The court, after hearing the arguments, barred the ministry from allotting Hajj quotas to the old HGOs alone and ordered that quotas be allotted only to those HGOs that qualify under the new policy.
The application was filed in a pending petition pleading to issue appropriate directions to the respondents, including the Religious Affairs Ministry and other stakeholders and non-governmental associations in making the Hajj policies friendly and transparent.
LHC stays allocation of Haj quota till May 9
