F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: The ministry of religious affairs Friday postponed the Hajj balloting slated to take place today as Sindh High Court issued a stay order in this regard.
Hajj balloting was scheduled to take place today which was halted by the government in a surprise last-minute move on Friday after the SHC order.
Earlier on Thursday, the SHC Sukkur bench heard a petition that says certain terms of the new Hajj policy stand against the Islam and Sharia.
According to the sources, Deputy Attorney General recommended the government not to hold the balloting as it would be against the judicial order. The spokesman of the religious ministry said the SHC order will be challenged and the date for balloting will be announced later.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) Thursday stopped the Ministry of Religious Affairs from holding balloting of 17 per cent quota of government Hajj scheme.
Justice Shahid Karim passed the orders on a civil miscellaneous application filed by Travel Channel (pvt) Limited in a pending matter. During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel Muhammad Azhar Siddique submitted that under Hajj Policy 2018, private Hajj operators had not been given fair share as 67 per cent of the total Hajj quota had been reserved for government Hajj scheme.
He said the petitioner had challenged the unfair allocation of quota to private Hajj operators through a petition. He stated that the ministry would hold the balloting for government Hajj scheme on January 26. He said that if the balloting took place for the entire government Hajj quota then the petitioners would suffer irreparable loss.
He pleaded the court to restrain the ministry from holding balloting of 17 per cent of government Hajj quota till the final verdict of the petition. He further submitted that the Hajj policy violated guidelines of the apex court whereas the Competition Commission of Pakistan raised serious objections to the process for finalisation of the policy and did not approve it.
The court after hearing arguments stopped the ministry from holding balloting of 17 per cent quota of government Hajj scheme and linked the same with final outcome of the petition. However, the court allowed the ministry to hold balloting of remaining quota for government Hajj scheme.
