The Lahore High Court (LHC) here on Monday directed the Ministry of Religious Affairs to allocate the hajj quota afresh to the private Hajj Group Organisers (HGOs) after giving equal opportunity to all eligible organisers. Through a short order on dozens of petitions against the allocation of the quota under Hajj Policy 2011, a full bench of the LHC, headed by Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry, set aside Hajj Policy 2011 to the extent of allocation of quota to private HGOs.
The bench ruled that the conditions imposed in the policy, limiting the selection of HGOs to persons rendering service during the last Hajj 2010 or in the ones during the immediately preceding years was illegal, without lawful authority and of no legal effect.
The bench observed that the minutes of the international agreement between the governments of Pakistan and the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia presented before the court did not confine the allocation of quota only to those who had been rendering service as hajj group organisers in Hajj 2010 and preceding years. Therefore, there was no restriction on the government of Pakistan under the said agreement to allocate quota to qualified persons consequent upon a competitive selection.
The bench further remarked that the rules and criteria given in the Hajj Policy 2011 did not confine too the eligibility of new HGOs who had no experience of organising Hajj pilgrims in the previous years. "We do not find that any ground is available with the government to limit the allocation of quota for Hajj 2011 to only such HGOs that have rendered service and obtained experience in Hajj 2010 or in the immediately preceding years," the bench observed.
The bench also held that the government was duty-bound to solicit, receive, consider and decide all the applications for allocation of quota for Hajj 2011 filed by the petitioners or others who were qualified in terms of the criteria given in the hajj policy.
The government was also bound to ensure competitive selection of HGOs for the Hajj 2011 fairly, transparently and without imposing any extraneous conditions on the eligibility of qualified persons to compete in such selection, the bench further ruled and disposed of the petitions filed by private hajj organisers.
The bench had already restrained the ministry of religious affairs from finalising the process of hajj quota allocation to private tour operators. Advocates Ahmad Awais and Muhammad Azhar Siddique represented the petitioners while deputy attorney generals Muhammad Naseem Kashmiri, Illyas Khan, and Ziaul Qamar represented the federal government.
Additional Secretary of Religious Affairs Islamabad Arshad Bhatti and a section officer (litigation) of the ministry also appeared before the court. Meerub Travel Tours (Pvt) Ltd, Travel Shop Ltd and others had filed the petitions. They alleged that ministry of religious affairs allotted Hajj quota 2011 to private tour operators on the basis of personal liking and political influence despite clear directions of superior courts to follow merit in allotment of the Hajj quota.
The petitioners maintained that they wrote many times to Ministry of Religious Affairs to provide policy 2011 but it was neither provided nor advertised. They said that new operators would not be given quota for Hajj 2011 which was in violation of Article 25, 18 and 4 of the Constitution. The petitioners prayed to the court to declare the Hajj Policy 2011 illegal to the extent of private tour operators.