AL ISMAIL HAJ TOUR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Court by its judgment in Union of India & Others v. Rafique Shaikh Bhikan & Others, 2013 4 SCC 699 (hereinafter Rafique Shaikh Bhikan, 2013), approved a policy (with some modification) framed by Government of India for the registration of Private Tour Operators ("PTOs") for HAJ 2013 (hereafter referred to as "APPROVED POLICY"). This Court opined that such a policy "avoids creation of any monopoly and makes provision for entry of fresh players".

(2.) The modified and APPROVED POLICY is appended to the judgment as Appendix-'I'<SLINK_NO>1</SLINK_NO>. It can be seen from the said judgment that though the policy as framed by the Government of India was meant only for one year i.e. for Haj 2013, this Court directed that it would be the "Policy for Private Tour Operators for Haj 2013-17" - valid for five years.

(3.) Under the APPROVED POLICY, the PTOs were categorised into two groups. Category-I consists of PTOs who were registered with the Ministry of External Affairs and facilitated Hajis at least for 7 or more years by conducting Haj tour operations. The second category consists of two classes of PTOs. Class-I consists of PTOs who had facilitated Hajis for less than 7 years and Class-II consists of the PTOs who had facilitated at least 50 umrah pilgrims in a year for any five years.