Gauhati High Court Directs Haj Committee To Decide Issue Of Excess Fare Charged From Pilgrims Within 90 Days

The Gauhati High Court recently directed the Central Haj Committee of India to dispose of the representations regarding excess airfare charged from Haj pilgrims of Assam, strictly in the light of the provisions contain in Section 42 of the Haj Committee Act, 2002, within 90 days. The single bench comprising Justice Soumitra Saikia was hearing a writ petition filed by 91 Haj pilgrims of Assam raising the issue that they were charged with the airfare of a chartered flight from Guwahati to Jeddah, however, during the boarding at Guwahati, they were asked to take normal passenger flight instead of international chartered flight.It was the case of the petitioners that in 2023 tender was called for chartered flight and after finalising the tender selected Haj pilgrims of Assam were asked to deposit Rs. 3,82,297/- for Haj expenditure including the air fare of the chartered flight. The Counsel appearing for the petitioners submitted that out of Rs. 3,82,297/-, Rs. 1,54,694/- was collected as air fare of the chartered flight from Guwahati to Jeddah. However, during the boarding at Guwahati embarkation pilgrims of Assam were asked to take normal passenger flight instead of international chartered flight.It was the case of the petitioners that though the Haj Committee of India had cancelled the chartered flight from Guwahati but the excess amount which was deposited by the pilgrims for the chartered flight was not refunded. The petitioners contended that various representations addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, Haj Committee of India seeking for the refund of the excess amount which was collected from Haj pilgrims but the Haj Committee as of date has not disposed the representations nor refunded the amount to the petitioners. The Court observed that the counsel for the parties are in unanimity that the present writ petition can be disposed of, with the direction to the Haj Committee of India to dispose of the representations accordance with Section 42 of the Haj Committee Act, 2002.“In the light of the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties, this Court proposes to dispose of the writ petition with a direction to the respondent No. 2 to dispose the representations submitted by the petitioners strictly in the light of the provisions contain in section-42 of the Haj Committee Act, 2002. Accordingly, the respondent No. 2 shall dispose the representations submitted by the petitioners by speaking order after hearing the petitioners and by adhering to the mandate of section-42 of the Haj Committee Act, 2002. All exercise for compliance of this order shall be completed within a period 90(ninety) days from the day of passing of this order,” the Court directed. Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Gau) 94Case Title: Samsul Hussain & 90 Ors. v. The Union of India & 2 Ors.Case No.: WP(C)/6257/2024Click Here To Read/Download Order

Gauhati High Court Directs Haj Committee To Decide Issue Of Excess Fare Charged From Pilgrims Within 90 Days

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