These four petitions have been filed by Limited companies engaged in providing services of Hajj Group Operators. The grievance of the petitioners is that for the year 2007 they had been provided the following quota:--- (1)Messrs. Al-Khair Services for Hajj and Umrah (Pvt.)
Limited.600 (2)Messrs. Az-Zaitoons Services for Hajj and Umrah (Pvt.) Limited.500 (3)Messrs. Al Barakah Services for Hajj and Umrah. (Pvt.) Limited.600 (4)Messrs Ansarul Hujjaj Alamgir (Pvt.) Limited. 1300
2. They further stated that a letter was issued on 11-6-2008 in which the Deputy Secretary of the respondent had directed all Hajj Group Organizers not to hire buildings, hotels and Maktab beyond the quota allocated to them last year. After receipt of this letter the learned counsel submit that they had assumed that the quota of last year was intact and they had started preparation for Hajj 2008 on the basis of that quota and had received advances from various Hajj applicants and had started making other preparation including hiring building, hotels , Maktab and other ancillaries and had collected advances and incurred expenses to the tune of millions of Rupees. However, to their surprise by letter No, F-1 (1)/2008-HP-II/4106 dated 31-8-2008 their quota for the year 2008 was reduced as under:-- (1)Messrs. Al-Khair Services for Hajj and Umrah (Pvt.)
Limited.300 (2)Messrs. Az-Zaitoons Services for Hajj and Umrah (Pvt.) Limited.250 (3)Messrs. Al Barakah Services for Hajj and Umrah (Pvt.) Limited. 300 (4)Messrs. Ansarul Hujjaj Alamgir (Pvt.) Limited. 300
3. They further submitted that they faced immense problems and pressure as they had already accepted applications from various Hajj applicants and made preparation for their Hajj and had spent huge amount on these preparations.
4. After receipt of these petitions notices were issued to the respondents and the DAGs Messrs.
Amer Raza Naqvi and Umer Hayat Sandhu along with Section Officer, Ministry of Religious Affairs Khaleel Ahmed and Director Hajj Abdul Sattar, stationed at Karachi, appeared and presented the case of the respondent. We would, at this juncture, like to appreciate the assistance provided by DAGs Messrs. Amer Raza Naqvi and Umer Hayat Sandhu and respondent as in very short time they complied with the orders of the Court and provided most of the requisite information.
5. Mr. Abid S. Zuberi, Mr. Khalid Javed Khan and Ms. Sana Akram Minhas, learned counsel for the petitioners stated that since they had been performing Hajj operation services for a number of years and till date no complaint of any kind whatsoever was lodged against them and their services were appreciated by the Government functionaries and Hajis alike, they had formed a legitimate expectancy that they will be allowed the same quota which was allowed to them last year and after receipt of the letter dated 11-6-2008, quoted above, they had started preparation and already invested huge amount in the Hajj preparation and entered into contracts with various hotel owners in Saudi Arabia and Hajj applicants, therefore, when they received the shocking news that their quota has been reduced they had no option but to file these petitions. Since they had not made the other Hajj Operators whose quotas had been increased as parties, therefore, the learned counsel only prayed that the quota which has been left unutilized may be distributed amongst them.
6. Messrs. Amer Raza Naqvi and Umer Hayat Sandhu, DAGs argued that the quotas have not been reduced or increased due to any political/mala fide reasons but they are just following the directions of the Honourable Supreme Court given in judgment dated 13-7-2007 passed in Civil Petitions Nos.565 to 571 and others of 2007, in which the Honourable apex Court had directed that allocation of quota to private operators should not exceed more than 300 persons and in case of excess, cogent reasoning should be furnished by the Committee. However, rebutting this contention of the DAGs, the learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that this order was not in case of the total quota allocated to the Hajj Group Operators but only in case of additional 6000 quota and this restriction did not apply to them or to other operators as per order of the Honourable Supreme Court dated 26-9-2007. They have strongly contended that their quotas were reduced to provide favour to certain favourite persons for mala fide and political reasons. This contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners has strongly been rebutted by the learned DAGs but despite request and directions of this Court basis/criteria of increase or decrease in quota has not been provided to us and the contention of the representative of the respondent is that such basis or criteria is lying with the Committee and they are not in possession of such basis or criteria. We have also been informed by the D.A.Gs. And the representative of the Department that once the list of quota allocated to different Hajj Group Operators has been sent to the Saudi Government it became sacrosanct and no change can be made in such list but at the hearing today details of the quota allocated to Hajj Group Operators, whose place of departure is Karachi, has been provided to us. These details are as follows:-- (1)Registered Hajj Group Operators. 168 (2)Quota for registered Hajj Group Operators. 24690 (3)Hajj Group Operators who have filed their applications and lists.117 (4)Quota not submitted by 51 companies. 8832 (5)Quota utilized. 15511 (6)Quota un-utilized. 347
7. After the perusal of the above details when we inquired from the representative of the respondent as to what will happen to the quota for which applications have not been filed. They further stated that this quota may be redistributed or disposed of in such manner as directed by the Committee. This statement renders the argument that the list sent to Saudi Authorities is sacrosanct, unreliable(sic). They further stated that these companies had faced various procedural difficulties and had requested for extending the time period for filing the forms. In fact one of the company Messrs Safinatul Hujjaj had approached this Court although they have not moved an application under Order I, rule 10, C.P.C. But their counsel stated that they intend to file such application as they could not submit the form because the NADRA password was provided to them on 21-9-2008 and the representative of the respondent confirmed that this and other such procedural difficulties are being faced by the other companies who have not filed their forms and all of them have requested the Ministry to extend the date for filing the forms because the non- filing of forms was not deliberate and was, due to circumstances, beyond their control and was on account of procedural difficulties.
8. At this stage of the case Ms. Sana Akram Minhas, the learned counsel for the petitioner in C.P. No, D-1835 of 2008 stated, on instructions from her client who is also present in Court, that since their quota has been reduced from 1300 to 300 it was not possible for them to file the forms as they could not discriminate between the applicants who had approached them and it was very difficult for them to file 300 forms when about 1300 persons have approached them, therefore, they do not wish to participate in Hajj 2008 but would like to pray that their rights may be protected for Hajj 2009. She, therefore, stated that her client was also surrendering the quota of 300 for this year only.
So the forms which were returned along with the quota surrendered by the petitioners come to 647.
However, since we intend to extend the date for filing the forms for all Hajj Group Operators whose Hails are scheduled to depart from Karachi, therefore, the companies who have surrendered these 647 forms because of shortage of Hajis may like to reclaim these forms and file them before the extended date, therefore, at present these forms cannot be distributed to the petitioners, as rightly submitted by respondent's representative. However, the position of 300 forms surrendered by the petitioner in C.P. No, D-835/2008 is different as there is no claimant of these forms. We, therefore, direct the respondent to issue further 300 forms to the other three petitioners equally and allow them time up IA to 1-10-2008 to file these forms.
9. Director Hajj Abdul Sattar, present here is directed to issue forms to the petitioner by. 11-00 a.m.
Tomorrow i.e, 25-9-2008 without waiting for the approval of the Secretary and if he fails to issue the forms, he will be liable to contempt action against him personally.
10. Although the other Hajj Group Operators are not before us but in the interest of justice we would direct the Ministry to extend date for all Hajj Group Operators of Karachi up to 1-10-2008 and try to remove their procedural difficulties and allow them to file forms complete with all annexures by this date and only those forms should be accepted which are filed by 1-10-2008 completed in all respects along with Bank Guarantees.
11. Before parting with this order, despite the fact that it is not the prayer of the petitioners but in the interest of justice we would like to set the following guidelines to be followed by the Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs for finalizing the scheme for Hajj 2009:-
(1) The quota allocated for the year 2007 should be taken as basis for allocation of quota for 2009 and if any reduction has to be made in their quota, proper show-cause notice should be issued to those Hajj Group Operators giving cogent reasons for such reduction and they should be given an opportunity to present their case and only after hearing them their quota of 2007 may be reduced by a speaking order.
(2) If the Ministry feels that the quota of any Hajj Group Operator has to be increased, the same may only be done by a speaking order giving cogent reason for such increase before the date envisaged in the above paragraph.
(3) All the procedure and conditions for Hajj Group Operators (including allocation of their quota) should be finalized at least six months before the date of Hajj of 2009 and all bottlenecks should be removed and last date of filing the forms should be fixed at least three months before the date of Hajj and should not be extended unless there are compelling reasons for such extension and no change should be made in these procedures and conditions after that date.
12. These petitions are disposed with the above directions and observations.