Take Steps For Composition Of Central Haj Committee: Supreme Court To Centre

The Supreme Court on Thursday (January 25) directed the Central Government to take adequate steps in completing the composition of the Central Haj Committee and apprise the Court of the progress status by March 7, 2024.

The bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and SC Sharma was hearing the contempt petition filed in light of the orders of the Court in the main writ petition which sought to constitute the Central Haj Committee on lines with S. 3 and 4 of the Haj Committee Act.

This development comes subsequently to the Court's previous directions to the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs in March 2023, wherein the Court asked the ministry to engage with States which have not yet constituted Haj Committees in their respective States.

The Court in its recent order took note of the fact that of the three members required to be part of the Haj Committee as per S. 4(1) of the Haj Committee Act, 2002, all of them have completed their Rajya Sabha terms and thus all the three positions were now left vacant.

S. 4(1) Provides :

Composition of Committee.- The Committee shall consist of the following members, namely:- (I) three members of Parliament of whom two are to be nominated by the Speaker of the House of the People from among its Muslim members, and one by the Chairman of the Council of States from among its Muslim members:

Provided that a member of Parliament shall, upon ceasing to be a member, cease to be a member of the Committee and the Speaker of the House of the People or the Chairman of the Council of States, as the case may be, shall make a fresh nomination upon request by the Central Government;

Similarly, S. 4(ii) which provides for the election of nine Muslim members in the Committee has not yet taken place.

S.4(ii) reads as follows :

Nine Muslim members of the Committee shall be elected, three from those States sending largest number of pilgrims during last three years and one each from the zones as specified in the Schedule, in such manner as may be prescribed.

Provided that not more than one member shall be elected from a State falling in the zone as specified in the Schedule;

Like wise, the post of one member having "special knowledge of Muslim theology and law", as contemplated by Section 4(1)(b) is also vacant.

Senior Advocate Mr Sanjay Hegde appearing for the Petitioner submitted a chart detailing the composition of the Central Haj Committee. Referring to the same, the Court it in its order observed :

“Bearing in mind the above position, we direct the Union Government to take all necessary steps to pursue the completion of the composition of the Central Haj Committee in accordance with law and to apprise this Court on the next date of listing of the progress which has been made.

List the Contempt Petition on 7 March 2024”

Background

This matter pertains to the constitution of a Central Haj Committee prescribed under Section 3 read with Section 4 of the Haj Committee Act, 2002.

The petition argues that the Centre and the Respondent States have failed to comply with the strict provision of the Haj Committee Act, 2002 and have failed to appoint Committees under the said statute. In the last hearing, the petitioner had submitted that India has not had an operational Central Hajj Committee since 2019. Also, as on October 2021, only 1 out of 19 States have a fully operational State Haj Committee, whereas all other states are either awaiting actions from State Government for appointment or don't even have a Committee for more than 3 years.

The petition, while relying on Section 8 of the Act, which provides for the formation of a new committee at least 4 months before the expiry of the incumbent committee, contends that the tenure of the previously appointed committees, which anyway had not been appointed in strict compliance of the statute, had admittedly lapsed. Thus, as per the petition, the planning and coordination for the Hajj 2022 which was scheduled for 7th July 2022 would be prejudicially affected unless a committee was immediately appointed by the Centre and the concerned State Governments at the Centre and State level respectively.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court had directed the Respondent states to inform the court, by way of an affidavit, if Hajj committees are constituted in their respective states and to additionally specify the names of the committee members of the Committees constituted. The same had to be informed to the court in two weeks.

Case Details : HAFIZ NAUSHAD AHMAD AZMI VERSUS KATIKITHALA SRINIVAS & ORS CONMT.PET.(C) No.1246/2023 in W.P.(C) No.1229/2021

Click here to read the order