A three-member bench of the court headed by Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry handed down the ruling on the case.
During the hearing, lawyer for the petitioners said the government had disregarded merit and constitutional provisions while devising the policy. They alleged that the tour operators were allotted quotas based on personal connections and preferences.
The court said that the authorities concerned should consider applications on merit and added that the policy needed to be revised.
The court ruled that Haj quotas be issued to all eligible operators in a transparent manner. It observed that the government was not authorized to restrict the allotment of quota to a few selected operators and ordered that all operators be provided equal opportunity.
Around 30 Haj operators had petitioned the court challenging the allotment of quotas.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court described the report presented by the Federal Investigation Agency concerning the previous Haj operations unsatisfactory. The FIA on Monday appointed a third inquiry officer to investigate last year’s Haj operations that entailed corruption worth millions of dollars.
Under court’s orders former Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi was sacked and subsequently jailed on graft charges.
Kazmi, who was the religious affairs minister last year, oversaw the Haj operations.
