LAHORE: The Lahore High Court stayed on Thursday balloting of the private Haj quota due on Jan 26 and sought reply from the ministry of religious affairs.

Justice Shahid Karim passed the order on a petition by private Haj tour operators who pleaded that their quota had been drastically reduced in the Haj Policy of 2018.

Petitioners counsel Azhar Siddique said if the Haj policy of 2018 was approved there would be troubles for the next government to implement it.

The counsel said that policy formulated for 2018 was not in accordance with the Supreme Court’s judgments and lacked required transparency. He asked the court to restrain the ministry from balloting the quota till allocation in line with the guidelines of the apex court.

A deputy attorney general presented the policy plan before the court.

Justice Karim directed the ministry that the balloting due on Jan 26 shall only be held in respect of 50 per cent of entire Haj quota for year 2018 and the rest of the quota shall be kept open and shall be subject to the determination of the petition.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2018