The ministry of religious affairs on Friday told the Chief Justice (CJ) Lahore High Court that quota of 490 pilgrims will be allocated among 48 newly registered Hajj Group Organisers (HGOs). This was stated by a joint secretary of the ministry during hearing of a number of contempt of court petitions filed by HGOs accusing the ministry of violating a court's order with regard to allocation of Hajj quota.
The secretary also submitted the list of 48 HGOs. The CJ adjourned further hearing to September 18 and directed him to submit final report of the eligible companies. On behalf of the petitioners, Advocate Azhar Siddique told to the court that most of the companies were sister concerns/family companies and were black listed. Therefore the ministry should be directed to allocate among them after excluding ineligible companies and new eligible HGOs be added in the list. The Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial therefore directed the ministry to place the names of these companies on its website and award Hajj quota of minimum 10 pilgrims to each new company.