HC allows construction of Haj house

Upholding the decision of the then Vasundhara Raje government to allot land for building a Haj house in Jaipur in 2006, the Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday said it cannot be termed as state patronage to any religion.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice N K Jain allowed construction of the Haj House in the capital saying it is merely a facilitation centre for the Haj pilgrims and such facilities are also provided to pilgrims belonging to other religions.

“The term religion is having a wide dimension. It’s not just Muslims who are being given facilities. Even for pilgrims coming to Allahabad for Kumbh and Kailsh Mansa-
rovar facility centres are being provided at government cost.

As such there is nothing bad in the allotment made at a token price of Re 1 in year 2006 by the government,” it observed.

The order came on a PIL by Sanjay Kumar Singh challenging the allotment on the ground that the land at Sanganer was a pasture land and as such could not have been alloted to the Haj Committee.

The court was of the view that actions like allotting land for temporary haltage, making preliminary preparations for Haj, facilities for visitors who came to see off and receive Hajis is a public cause and cannot be termed communal or an effort to encash vote bank.