Supreme Court Issues Notice In Plea Seeking Constitution Of Central & State Haj Committees

The Supreme Court today issued notice in a writ petition seeking constitution of a Central Haj Committee prescribed u/s 3 r/w Section 4 of the Haj Committee Act, 2002 ("Act").

The petition, which also sought for establishment of State Haj Committees for every state in India in compliance with Section 17 r/w 18 of the Act was listed before the bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari.

Senior Advocate Sanjay R Hedge appeared for the petitioner who is a former member of the Central Haj Committee.

It was argued in the petition that Centre and the Respondents have failed to comply with the strict provision of the Haj Committee Act, 2002 and have failed to appoint Committees under the said statute. The petitioner submitted that India does not have 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.

Relying on section 8 of the Act which provided for formation of a new committee at least 4 months prior to the expiry of the incumbent committee, the petitioners had also contended that the tenure of the previously appointed committees, which anyway was not appointed in strict compliance of the statute, had admittedly lapsed.

"Consequently, the planning and coordination for the Hajj 2022 which is scheduled for 7th July 2022 would be prejudicially affected unless a committee is immediately appointed by the Centre and the concerned State Governments at the Centre and State level respectively," the petition stated.

In this regard, the petition stated that a meeting was convened on October 22, 2021 wherein the Union Minister for Minority Affairs declared that an official announcement regarding Haj 2022 was imminent as soon as in the first week of November.

The petitioner has further contended that the Respondents have unlawfully and unauthorisedly used the Central Haj Fund worth ₹14 Cr. for the purpose of purchasing a plot of land in Mumbai to establish a new Hajj House, without considering the fact that Mumbai already had a 19-storied building which has been the Headquarter of the Hajj Committee since 1927, marking the violation of Section 31.

In this backdrop, relief was also sought for issuance of directions to the Haj Committee of India to seek cancellation of the lease of land for Hajj House in Khargar, Navi Mumbai from City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), Mumbai, return the amounts spent thereupon to the Haj Fund and declare the said expenditure as being impermissible under the law.

The petition has been filed through Advocate on Record Talha Abdul Rahman and drafted by Advocates Udit A Kokanthankar and Harsh Vardhan Kediya.

Case Title: Hafiz Naushad Ahmad Azmi V. Union Of India , Ministry Of Minority Affairs & Ors| W.P.(C) No. 1229/2021

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