LAHORE: Taking strict notice of the non-compliance of a Lahore High Court’s stay order against allocating quota of 5,000 pilgrims among private Haj Group Organisers (HGOs), the chief justice suspended on Monday the allocation of the quota as whole.

The chief justice also took notice of the relaxation given by the ministry in the eligibility criteria for HGOs and observed that action violated transparency and good governance practices.

Earlier, the ministry’s officials produced a copy of the Haj Policy 2013 which showed that the eligibility criterion was softened by removing a bar on tax and bank defaulters.

The chief justice observed that the order of court was not complied with and recognition letters to HGOs had been issued in haste by the ministry. Therefore, the chief justice suspended the operations of all recognition letters till March 22, the next date of hearing.

Some private HGOs had filed a petition and stated that on June 6, 2012, the LHC had ordered the ministry to allocate quota of 5,000 pilgrims among the newly-registered tour operators but the quota of only 192 pilgrims had been allocated among them.

Petitioner’s counsel Azhar Siddique alleged that the remaining quota was being allocated among old tour operators in violation of the court’s directions.

He said the ministry had announced the Haj Policy 2013, but the same was neither issued on its website nor in the printed form.

Hides collecting case

The Punjab Home Department informed the Lahore High Court on Monday that the Jamatud Dawa was barred from collecting hides of sacrificial animals following instructions issued by the Ministry of Interior for security arrangements on the eve of Eidul Azha.

In a written reply submitted to the court of Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, the department said the Interior Ministry had issued a code of conduct for collection of sacrificial animals’ hides under which any organisation was required to get a certificate from the district coordination officer and the district police officer concerned for the collection of hides.

It said the ministry had issued a list of proscribed organisations directing that they should not be allowed to collect hides.

The reply further said since the Jamatud Dawa and two other organisations were enlisted under the United Nations Security Council Resolution since Dec 10, 2008, they were not allowed to collect the hides.

The court should dismiss the petition to the extent of the home department, the reply concluded.

The chief justice adjourned the hearing and directed the petitioner’s counsel to submit his rejoinder to the department’s reply.

The petitioner had pleaded that the impugned ban was in clear violation of his fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

He prayed to the court to set aside the ban on JuD activities.