The Supreme Court on Tuesday, while rejecting the new Hajj policy, restored the 50 per cent quota for the private tour operators.
Headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, an apex court bench announced its brief verdict on the Hajj tour operators’ plea against the government’s Hajj policy for the year 2016.
The court, in its ruling, observed that the government should have to take all stakeholders on board before announcement of the Hajj policy for this year.
Reading the short judgement, the chief justice, while granting the petitions of the Hajj tour operators, rejected the government’s Hajj policy as well as the 40 per cent quota for the Hajj tour operators for this year.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs had, while citing the public interest, announced reduction in Hajj quota for the private tour operators from 50 per cent to accommodate maximum number of pilgrims.
The chief justice, during the hearing, remarked that the committee was formed on orders of the apex court, but it didn’t do any work. Upon this, Abid Zuberi, the counsel for the tour operators, said the committee could have given independent decisions after approval from the prime minister.
At this, the additional attorney general submitted that the premier had approved the policy which had been approved by the committee, adding that an agreement had been signed between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on February 18, 2016.
Nevertheless, Rana Waqar, the counsel for the government, submitted that the issue of quota was not discussed with the Saudi government rather it was taken up with a private company. He contended that people would benefit from the increased government quota as government Hajj scheme was reasonable as compared to the one run by the private tour operators.
The chief justice asked the lawyer as to why changes were made if quota had been decided in the agreement with the private tour operators. He was of the opinion that it was better to take all stakeholders on board before taking any decision.
Earlier during the course of hearing on Monday, Justice Jamali observed that the top court had to examine whether the quota was determined in the light of set procedures.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs allocates Hajj quota every year to the private sector in accordance with the Hajj policy of the year concerned.
