Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Wednesday ordered Ministry for Religious Affairs to ensure fair distribution of Haj quota to private tour operators. Justice Bandial issued this order upon hearing a contempt of court petition against the ministry for ignoring court orders about awarding Haj quota to new tour operators.
During the hearing, Advocate Azhar Siddique, the counsel of the petitioners, told the court that no action had been taken against established tour operators who had violated laws in the past and that only small fines had been imposed upon them.
Justice Bandial said that it was not enough to impose nominal fines on tour operators violating laws.
The court reissued a notice to the Competition Commission of Pakistan for October 1 and directed it to file a reply on the matter.
Earlier in May, the petitioners through Advocate Siddique, had petitioned before the court that owing to unjust distribution of Haj quota to private tour operators, it had become impossible for a common man to bear Haj expenses. They argued that the Haj policy 2012 had been announced and a plan had been made to dish out quota on personal favors.
The petitioners had also asked the court to cancel the allocation of the quota allegedly based on favoritism and direct the government to associate real stakeholders and non-government associations for bringing transparency in the Haj policies.
