Committee recommends quota for Haj pilgrimage

A high-powered committee recommended the distribution of quota between the Haj Committee of India and Private Tour Operators to be rationalised in the ratio of 70:30 for the next 5 years of Haj pilgrimage.

The committee on Saturday presented the report to Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in Mumbai.

The members of the committee were Afzal Amanullah, former secretary to the Government of India as convenor; Justice S S Parkar, retired Judge of the Bombay High Court; Qaiser Shamim, former IRS officer and former chairman, Haj Committee of India and Kamal Faruqui, noted chartered accountant and Islamic scholar.

Joint Secretary J  Alam, in-charge of Haj, Ministry of Minority Affairs was the member secretary of the committee.

Another vital recommendation was that the seats among the states/Union Territories be distributed in the ratio of their Muslim population as well as in proportion to the number of applications received.

It also recommended that the special quota for Jammu & Kashmir be increased from 1,500 to 2,000.

States and Union territories receiving less than 500 applications to get priority in distribution of surplus seats. This will benefit Union territories like Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Puducherry, as well as smaller states like Chhattisgarh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Manipur.