The Madras High Court has quashed a clause in a notification which stated that new private tour operators would not be allocated Haj quota for 2010.
Allowing a batch of petitions challenging the orders, Justice D. Hariparanthaman said the policy was not in consonance with the liberalised economic policy of the Union government. The government should frequently lay down certain guidelines for the eligibility of tour operators. It could not say that only existing operators would be allotted quota.
In fact, the Centre by an order of August 2009 had registered 296 new private tour operators allocating 50 seats for each and a reduction was made proportionately for the existing private operators. From this order, it was clear that the government passed it pursuant to the orders of High Courts.
