LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial Friday set aside a list of 58 newly enroled Haj Group Organisers (HGOs) by Religious Affairs Ministry for Haj quota allotment.
The chief justice ordered ministry to prepare a new list on merit by July 9.
The chief justice passed the orders on a petition filed by Travel Shop and others challenging Haj policy 2013 and process of quota allocation .
Earlier, the petitioner's counsel Muhammad Azhar Siddique submitted that the court had ordered ministry to distribute a quota of 910 Hujjaj to newly enroled HGOs through bidding process.
He said that only few of newly enroled HGOs had Umrah licenses whereas remaining were inexperienced.
Azhar pointed out that the ministry did similar exercise in 2012 and selected 66 new HGOs on merit whereas only 8 of said HGOs were included in the new list.
He alleged that the current ranking by the ministry was unfair.
To a court query on selection criteria of new HGOs, Additional Attorney General Abdul Hai Gillani submitted a criteria used for selection of new HGOs. The court was further informed that the criteria of new HGOs was set by a chartered accountant and not by the ministry.
However, the chief justice expressed dissatisfaction on criteria set for selection of new HGOs.
Responding to a court query, a deputy secretary told the court that he was not aware of criteria used for selection of HGOs earlier.
The chief justice after hearing arguments of the parties set aside the list of 58 newly enroled HGOs and ordered to prepare a new list on merit.
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