A full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) here on Wednesday restrained the ministry of religious affairs from finalising the process of Hajj quota allocation to private tour operators and sought detailed reply from federal government and the ministry by June 06.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry issued this order while hearing dozens of petitions filed by hajj tour operators against alleged discrimination on the part of ministry of religious affairs in allocation of hajj quota.
The bench also allowed four tour operators, who were allocated the quota, to become party in the case. These operators took plea that they had been awarded the quota, therefore, the court should also hear them as court's decision will have an effect on them.
Earlier advocates Ahmad Awais and Muhammad Azhar Siddique representing the main petitioners argued that the hajj quota was being allocated among the tout operators on the basis of liking and disliking for the last eight years. They said the ministry had been allocating quota among the same tour operators since 2004-05 and taking kickbacks.
Opposing a claim of the ministry, the counsels said, Saudi government had not barred Pakistan government from allocating hajj quota to new operators. They pointed out that the LHC in its judgement against Hajj Policy 2006 had directed the ministry to strictly follow merit and constitutional provisions while making the policy.
On a court's query, the law officer said following an agreement between Saudi Arabian and Pakistani authorities, the former issued visas to 650 hajj tour operators, therefore, the ministry was allocating quota to only those operators. He said on orders of the SC, 96 more operators were awarded the quota.
Their counsel Siddique insisted that if there was any such agreement between the two countries, the same should be presented before the court.
The bench asked the attorney whether the previous order of the LHC was implemented or the ministry of religious affairs introduced any transparent procedure for the award of quota.
At this, a deputy secretary of the ministry informed the court that ministry had received complaints against 238 operators and it was planning to blacklist them.
Another counsel Awais raised a query and said if the ministry received complaints against 238 operators out of 650, then how it could claim that merit was observed while granting quota.
The court asked the ministry's representative as to why the petitioners were not made part of the quota allocation process, whereas every operator had its constitutional right to be part of the process.
The bench directed the deputy attorney general and all the counsel to come up on June 6 with complete preparation and comprehensive arguments, as no further adjourned will be allowed.
The petitioners prayed to the court to declare the Hajj policy 2011 illegal to the extent of private tour operators.