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Apex court disapproves Haj subsidy
Tuesday May 08, 2012 06:18:04 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi:
The Supreme Court Tuesday directed the government to eliminate the
subsidy for Haj pilgrims in the next 10 years.
Coming out against the government
policy of subsidies to pilgrims going for Haj to the holy city of
Makkah in Saudi Arabia every year, an apex court bench of Justice
Aftab Alam and Justice R.P. Desai also cut the strength of
goodwill delegation sent by the government.
The court said that the goodwill delegation sent by the government
every year to Makkah would comprise only two members - its leader
and the deputy leader.
At present, the goodwill delegation consists of 30 members.
In the course of the hearing that commenced Oct 18, 2011, when the
apex court stayed a Bombay High Court order, the central
government offered to reduce the strength of the goodwill
delegation to 10 members.
The court was told that the delegation, besides conveying India’s
goodwill to the Saudi Arabia government on the occasion Haj, also
interacts with the “Haj pilgrims from India, understands their
issues and takes up the same with the Saudi Arabian authorities”.
The court also sought details from the state-level Haj committees
and the Haj Committee of India as to how subsidy was given and
what the total expenditure on it was.
The apex court said this while pronouncing its judgment on the
central government’s petition challenging the Oct 5, 2011 high
court judgment by which it directed the government to give its
remaining quota of 800 Haj pilgrims to private operators so that
this did not go unutilised.
The high court judgment came after some private tour operators
moved it challenging the external affairs ministry's policy which
said that only those operators would be eligible for the
allocation of Haj pilgrims’ quota who had an office space
measuring at least 250 sq. feet.
The modified policy asked the private tour operators to give bank
guarantee of Rs.100,000 for every 100 Hajis they were carrying for
the pilgrimage.
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