Supreme Court refuses stay for Haj policy guidelines

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday, while refusing to stay the guidelines for Haj-2018, made it clear that allotment of seats made by way of the state-by-state draw of lots in pursuance of the Guidelines for the pilgrimage in August 2018 shall be subject to the final order on validity of guidelines.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud passed this order on petitions filed by Kerala State Haj Committee, challenging the Guidelines of 2018 on the ground that the same are violative of Articles 14 and 25 of the Constitution.

Appearing for the Centre the Attorney General K.K. Venugopal submitted that the petitioner being a State committee could not question the Haj policy, which was formulated in consultation with the Haj Committee of India. He said the schedule for draw of lots was very tight and the May 15 deadline has to be complied with. He opposed the court staying the policy.

In response, Prashant Bhushan submitted that the petitioner was challenging the policy of the Centre and not that of the Haj Committee.