The Division Bench of the Madras High Court, comprising Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy in the case of Popular Front of India Vs Haj Committee of India & Ors has declined to pass any order for inclusion of Chennai Airport for embarkation of the Haj pilgrims and left the decision for the Haj Committee.
Submission of the Petitioner
The Counsel on the behalf of the Petitioner has submitted that Chennai Airport was one of the destinations for embarkation of the Haj pilgrims. However, as Chennai Airport has not been shown as one of the embarkation points in the impugned guidelines, consequences would be heavily on the pilgrims going to the Haj from the State of Tamil Nadu.
Submission of the Respondents
The Counsel on the behalf of the State Government has submitted that recommendations have been sent to the Haj Committee to add Chennai Airport as one of the destinations for embarkation point for the Haj pilgrims.
The Counsel on the behalf of Haj Committee informed Court that the recommendations of the State Government have been received and embarkation for the Haj pilgrims would be in the month of August 2022 with the visa processing scheduled to commence this month (April) end. The matter is under consideration of the Haj Committee.
Reasoning and Decision of the Court
The Court after considering the submissions of the parties expounded that this Court would not issue a definite order against the guidelines, as the policy decision has been taken in consonance with the guidelines in view of Covid-19 pandemic.
The court opined that if the plea of the petitioner is accepted that anyone who intends to go for Haj from the State of Tamil Nadu has to cover the area of 700-800 Km to reach Cochin, it would cause inconvenience and would become a costly affair, such pleas can be raised by the members intending to go for Haj from the States of Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, as those States have also not been included in the embarkation points. Same is the position in respect of Punjab and Haryana as well as Rajasthan. Thus, it is not for this Court to decide on the policy decision taken by the Haj Committee.
The Court summarising all the arguments held that “the Haj Committee may take a decision to make necessary amendment in paragraph 12.1 of the guidelines to include certain other embarkation points, keeping in mind the recommendations of the State Government and the number of persons, who travel for Haj from any of the embarkation points.”
Therefore, the Court dismissed the petition without imposing any cost on it .
Case Details
Case: - W.P.No.8645 of 2022
Petitioner: - Popular Front of India
Respondent: - Haj Committee of India & Ors
Judge: Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy
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