COLOMBO ; The Court of Appeal on Monday, April 8, suspended the Hajj Quota allocation following a petition filed by a travel agent.
United Travel and Holidays filed a Writ Petition before the Court of Appeal after the travel agent was suspended for a period of two years from operating Hajj or Umrah travels .The Petitioner told court that the decision made by the Hajj committee was illegal.
They said that they had been singled out and victimised after questioning the arbitrary allocation of the quotas in the year 2023.
The Court of Appeal heard oral arguments in which the petitioners told court that the Hajj allocation of quotas amounted to over 5 Billion rupees. They said that as a result of the moneys invoked the entire process could fall into corrupt practices.
The petitioners had dues to be paid to 5 pilgrims which were paid after which they were suspended for two years from Hajj and Umrah operation .
The court was told that the entire punishment was disproportionate. The Hajj committee told court that United Travels had a history of conduct unbecoming of a travel agent.
The Court of Appeal further ordered that the letters of suspension be removed and to grant provisional registration to the travel agent.
Counsel Hafeel Farisz with Shannon Thillerathne appeared for United Travels . Counsel Hejaaz Hizbullah appeared for the Hajj Committee and the State counsel Mihiri De Alwis appeared for the Attorney General and the Minister .
Following the court verdict, the national Hajj committee held a meeting on Monday afternoon to explore actions to be taken as a follow-up to the court decision. It was felt that the respondent should either appeal the judgment or call off the pilgrimage this year.
Saudi government has allocated 3,500 pilgrims from Sri Lanka for this year .A sizable number of pilgrims have already registered themselves with their respective travel operators.
