Summary Supreme Court, on the appeal of the Federal government, has ruled out LHC’s July 15 judgment.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Accepting the appeal of federal government, the Supreme Court declared the decision of Lahore High Court over hajj quote case as null and void.
A two-member bench of apex court headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk accepted the federal government’s appeal and declared the decision of Lahore High Court as null and void. During the hearing, Azhar Tasdeeq the lawyer representing Hajj Tour Operators said, “The Hajj Policy is sheerly based on bad faith.” To which the court responded, “One shall not talk about bad faith in the court as the matter under discussion is Hajj policy.” Guidelines mentioned in the Lahore High Court’s decision are to be reviewed, he added.
Azhar Tasdeeq said that the allocation of additional quota of 15,000 pilgrims in the previous year was rolled back.
Justice Nasirul Mulk inquired if the quota was allotted only to Tour Operators Association and what was the procedure to get the membership of the association; and who takes that decision. To which Zulfiqar Naqvi replied, “One automatically gets registered with the association if he is granted Hajj quota.”
The Lahore High Court had suspended the decision of granting quota to a private tour operator considering it unlawful. The detailed judgment that was issued on July 15 stated that there was a discrepancy in expense of Hajj between the government and private tour operators. It furthermore stated that the government was charging Rs 272,000 per pilgrim whereas the private tour operators charged one million rupees per pilgrim or even more.
Supreme Court, on the appeal of the Federal government, has ruled out LHC’s July 15 judgment reasoning that issuing judgments on executive policy matters does not fall under LHC’s jurisdiction.
