Hearing on petition by private tour operators adjourned

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday adjourned hearing on a petition by a group of private tour operators challenging denial of allocations of Haj passengers to them for this year's pilgrimage.

Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw adjourned the hearing to September 26 when Additional Solicitor-General A.S. Chandhiok informed him that the Bombay High Court had already passed a judgment on a similar matter.

The Court had on Monday asked the Centre to inform its view on the petition on Tuesday.

The petitioners through their counsel, M. Tarique Siddiqui, submitted that the Centre had taken the decision not to allocate Haj passengers to the old designated private tour operators at the last minute.

They were now facing the risk of huge financial losses as they had already booked flight tickets and accommodations for the Haj four-five months ago, Mr. Siddiqui submitted.

For this year's Haj yatra, the Government of Saudi Arabia has allotted 174, 287 visas to the Union Government, and out of that, the Government has allocated 45,587 visas to private tour operators. The Central Haj Committee has been given 1.25 lakh visas and 3,700 visas have been given to Faiz-e-Husaini Trust of the Bohra sect, Mr. Siddiqui submitted.

This year, the last date for receiving applications was extended to grant permission to as many as 200 new tour operators to book Haj passengers and make arrangements for their flight and accommodations at Makkah, the petitioners stated.

Further, the petitioners were denied the permission in violation of the principles of natural justice as they were delisted from the designated tour operators list without hearing them.

The petitioners argued that the decision of the Government would also affect the Haj passengers financially as booking of flights and accommodations at the last moments would cost more which would be passed on to them.