Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: August 14, 2022 at 17:45 IST
The Supreme Court directed state governments to inform the Court, via an affidavit, if Hajj committees have been constituted in their respective states on Friday, August 12. The court has further directed states to specify the names of the individuals who would make up the newly formed Hajj Committees.
This issue relates to the constitution of a Central Haj Committee as required by Sections 3 and 4 of the Haj Committee Act of 2002.
Senior Advocate Sanjay R. Hedge, the petitioner’s advocate, claimed during the oral sessions that while some states had submitted counter affidavits regarding the constitution of Hajj Committees in their specific states, others had not. The Bench, which comprised Justices S. Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari, remarked verbally that states were required by law to constitute these committees.
The petitioner further submitted that a central committee must be established following the formation of state committees.
According to the appeal, the Centre and the respondent states failed to appoint committees following the Haj Committee Act of 2002’s strict requirements. The petitioner submitted that since 2019, India has not had an operational Central Hajj Committee during the previous hearing. Additionally, as of October 2021, only 1 out of 19 states has a fully working State Haj Committee, while the remaining 18 either lack a committee altogether or are still waiting for the state government to take action before appointing one.
As a result, the Supreme Court has directed the respondent states to inform the court via affidavit if Hajj committees have been established in each of their states, along with the names of the committee members. The court must be notified of the same within two weeks.