Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Friday directed the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MRA) to cancel Hajj quotas allotted to tour operators default in income tax. It also directed the government to seal their offices.
Earlier, Advocate Ilyas Khan, the counsel of the Income Tax department, said that over 130 hajj group organisers (HGOs) had not submitted their income tax returns for the last three years.
“While some HGOs in Peshawar had been given tax exemption, they are mandated to file income tax returns under Section 114 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001,” he said.
He said that at least 20 companies had been found to be defaulting on tax in Lahore alone. “The number will increase if the department carries out a countrywide verification process,” he said.
A Securities and Exchange Commission Pakistan (SECP) deputy registrar told the court that three out of the 729 HGOs were not registered with the commission. He said 23 had not been issued clearance certificates.
A MRA joint secretary told the court that HGOs had been directed to furnish complete documents by June 30. Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique, representing new tour operators, responded that ministry officials had been misleading the court for years.
He said that the documents presented before the court had shown that the Hajj Quotas were not being awarded fairly. He said that the ministry awarded quota to many ‘ghost’ operators each year.
He said that the court had on June 6 directed the ministry to allocate Hajj quota to new tour operators. “The ministry is still awarding quotas to previously registered operators only. It was issued a back-dated notification stating that previous quotas will only be cancelled on the receipt of specific complaints against operators,” he said.
He submitted that the court had ordered that only operators meeting the criteria given in Paragraph 19 of the Hajj Policy 2012 be awarded quotas. He asked the court to initiate contempt of court proceedings against ministry authorities for ignoring court orders.
The CJ adjourned the hearing till July 4.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2012.
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Not only the tour operators, but individuals who have dues to Government should not be sponsored to go on Haj.