LAHORE, Sept 11: Ministry of Religious Affairs Secretary Muhammad Azam Samaa on Tuesday undertook before the Lahore High Court that quota of 540 pilgrims will be allocated to at least 10 newly registered Haj Group Organisers (HGOs).

The secretary stated that the quota will be allotted before Sept 14 after necessary approval from the government of Saudi Arabia and Munnazim numbers for Haj organisers will be obtained.

The secretary had appeared before Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial to defend many contempt of court petitions filed against the ministry by newly registered tour operators alleging discrimination on part of the authorities in allocation of Haj quota. At the start of the proceedings the secretary insisted that further quota could not be allocated to new operators as new Munnazim numbers were not issued after Shabaan 15. The chief justice remarked that the court had issued order on June 6, 2012 to allocate quota on merit and also to the eligible new tour operators. “It appears that you do not want to allot quota to newly registered tour operators,” the CJ asked the secretary.

Representing the petitioners, Advocate Azhar Siddique pointed out that the government of Saudi Arabia had given quota of 10,000 more pilgrims to Pakistan but the ministry of religious affairs intentionally refused it.

The CJ warned the secretary of initiating contempt of court proceedings against him if the court’s order was not implemented. The secretary sought time from the court to seek instruction from Federal Religious Affairs Minister Khursheed Shah.

The CJ deferred hearing and resumed proceedings after 15 minutes when the secretary stated that the minister said the order of the court would be implemented in letter and spirit.

At this Chief Justice Bandial adjourned hearing till Sept 14 and directed the secretary to come up with compliance report. He also directed the ministry to issue enrolment letters to eligible tour operators.

The petitioners had submitted that the court in its earlier order had directed the ministry to also allocate Haj quota to new tour operators. The court had also ordered that only those operators should be awarded quota who met the criteria given in paragraph 19 of Haj Policy 2012, they said and added that the ministry ignored the order and awarded quota to previously registered operators only.

The petitioners prayed to the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the ministry officials.