Subcommittee questions use of ‘bogus firms’ to create merit lists. PHOTO: FILE
A private Hajj tour operator scored off the charts in an evaluation last year – awarded 20 marks out of 15 – the National Assembly subcommittee on Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony was informed.
Marks are allocated on the basis of services and hospitality offered by the tour operators and used to determine the inclusion of operators on merit lists and allocation of their Hajj pilgrims’ quota annually.
The subcommittee was informed that according to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s [SECP] website, ‘Top Care Hajj & Umrah Services (pvt) Limited’, based in Multan, were not alone in receiving such excess marks. Four other operators – Evershine Travels (pvt) Limited, Carvan Gojra Hajj and Umrah, Al-Khalid Hajj and Umrah Services (pvt) Limited and Al-Qaswa Hajj and Umrah Services (pvt) Limited – were also given such preferential treatment by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony.
Ministry officials were asked to submit detailed records of all tour operators, which revealed that as many as 1,500 private tour operators filed complaints, saying they were not given marks reflecting their credentials. One private operator based in Lahore said he was awarded zero marks for ‘experience’, despite the fact that he has maintained this business for over two decades.
Ministry officials maintained that they were not responsible for such discrepancies as six chartered accountant firms scrutinized the credentials of the enrolled companies and awarded the marks.
However, when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Syed Imran Ahmed Shah, convenor of the committee, questioned the accountants’ credentials, he found the officials’ response unsatisfactory and questioned whether ‘bogus firms’ were hired for the task of awarding marks to operators; the committee has asked the ministry to submit records for the involved firms at the next meeting on April 29.
Additionally, the committee asked the ministry to submit records of 19 tour operators who were given quotas even as they failed to meet certain criteria.
The operators were asked to submit Umrah Agreements, a certificate from the International Air Transport Association, registration certificates from the SECP and audit reports.
Meanwhile, some tour operators approached the Lahore High Court, which judged that the ministry should invite bids for the allocation of quota instead of going through these accountant firms.
However, the Supreme Court deemed that the LHC cannot interfere in policy matters of the ministry in this manner.
Former State Minister for Religious Affairs Shagufta Jumani of the Pakistan Peoples Party came to the defence of Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Shahjahan, saying he might be unaware of such discrepancies, arguing that ‘ministry officials have done this during the rule of caretakers’.
Interestingly, it was the sub-committee’s convenor, Imran Ahmed Shah, who raised allegations of corruption against former PM Yousaf Raza Gilani’s son; at the time, Jumani was accused of being a beneficiary of this corruption, a charge that she denied.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 10th, 2014.
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Keep Going on These types news. Qamar
Must be owned be a close friend or relative of the Sharifs. And 20 marks out of 15? Seriously? I thought that kind of marking ended with primary school.
Great post! Thanks for sharing. Really very informative and very useful post Performance evaluation: Some Hajj tour operators win ministry’s favors. Really Ministry officials maintained that they were not responsible for such discrepancies as six chartered accountant firms scrutinized the credentials of the enrolled companies and awarded the marks.