The annual Haj pilgrimage in which approximately 1.75 lakh Indians travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia every year has been entangled in a row with a PIL claiming misuse and mismanagement of funds by the Haj Committee. On Monday, the Supreme Court has agreed to pore over the allegations.
The Central Haj Committee and the Centre, Ministry of External Affairs have been issued notices on the PIL filed by Khuddam- Ul Haj- o- Umrah Foundation, a trust which works for the welfare of Haj pilgrims.
The PIL has alleged a fraud of “over ` 600 crore annually”. In the PIL, counsel Tariq Adeep inquired the demand of illegal lump sum advance from pilgrims “from which they earned good money as interest”, which was “in- Islamic” (sic), mandatory rule to purchase Saudi riyals from the Haj committee and non- floating of global airline tender for ferrying pilgrims in spite of a court order and leaving them at the leniency of Saudi Airlines and Air India.
The PIL also claimed that the two airlines were “exploiting and harassing” the pilgrims with excessive rates and poor service. The PIL sought a CAG investigation into the financial dealings and funding ahead of the Haj pilgrimage.
Asking all the opposite parties to file their replies within four weeks, a Supreme Court bench of Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai and Justice Madan B Lokur said they will look into the allegations.
“In 2008, pilgrims were asked to pay an advance of ` 10,700. In 2013, the advance amount was increased to ` 76,000. The interest be worthy of on the advance amount went up from ` 9 crore in 2008 to ` 32 crore in 2013.
Such conduct of the Haj Committee goes against the spirit of Islam which precludes accumulating interest for any purposes,” the PIL said.
The counsel said there was also a violation of earlier apex court order for floating airline global tenders for ferrying Haj pilgrims at cheaper rates. “As per report of amicus curiae, global tenders were called in 2011 to reduce the cost but afterward this order was suppressed.