Hajj quota: LHC rejects govt’s list of Hajj quota candidates

Petitioner alleges bias in the list of HGOs by Ministry of Religious affairs.

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Wednesday rejected a list of 58 private tour operators prepared by the Ministry of Religious Affairs for participating in bidding for Hajj quota. The LHC also directed the ministry to prepare a new list by July 9.

The court issued the order on an application submitted by a private tour operator against the distribution of “unjust” Hajj quota. Petitioner Azhar Siddique argued that 12 out of 58 new Hajj Group Organisations (HGOs) had Umra licenses for 2012.

Therefore, he said, 46 companies ranked amongst top 58 HGOs were not eligible for competing for allocation of Hajj quota. He said a similar exercise involving top 66 newly enrolled HGOs was undertaken by the ministry for Hajj 2013. He claimed that 65of the companies had Umra licences and substantial experience, adding that only eight companies from last year were in the new rankings.  The counsel alleged that the new rankings by the ministry were unfair and prejudiced. He claimed the new rankings could affect the bidding process that would be completed by July 7.  Earlier, an additional attorney general appeared before the court and submitted a performa. He said that a chartered accountant prepared it. The CJ observed that it seemed as if it was prepared only to benefit certain people. The additional attorney general said that the Peshawar High Court had already issued a stay order against the June 27 list. The CJ said that Hajj should be inexpensive. He said its cost should be brought down to Rs275,000 per person. The hearing was then adjourned till July 9.



LHC seeks report on measles

Justice Muhammad Khalid Mehmood Khan of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday demanded an inquiry report on the government’s failure to curb measles outbreak.

Counsel for the petitioner Muhammad Azhar Siddique said that despite court orders, the government had failed to control the outbreak.

A law officer appearing on behalf of the government told the court that the inquiry committee needed more time to file the report.

Siddiqe said that the death toll was rising.

He said that measles had spread across the province and led to the death of many children. He said even though national newspapers carried reports of measles deaths every day, little had been done to curb the epidemic.

He alleged that the Health Department knew of the measles epidemic but had not developed a strategy to combat it.

He told that court that organisations like the UNICEF had warned that the disease may cause large scale damage if precautionary measures were not taken.

The judge adjourned the further hearing till July 10.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2013.