Gauhati High Court: A Single Judge Bench of Soumitra Saikia, J., directed Respondent 2-the Chief Executive Officer, Central Haj Committee of India, to dispose of the representations submitted by petitioners’ regarding the excess amount that was collected from Haj pilgrims but was not refunded to them, strictly as per the provisions under Section 42 of the Haj Committee Act, 2002 (‘the 2002 Act’), within 90 days.
Petitioners were Haj pilgrims during Haj 2023 and in 2023, a tender was called for chartered flight and after finalising the tender, selected Haj pilgrims of Assam were asked to deposit Rs 3,82,297 for Haj expenditure including the air fare of the chartered flight.
Counsel for petitioners submitted that out of Rs 3,82,297, Rs 1,54,694 was collected as air fare of the chartered flight from Guwahati to Jeddah, however, during the boarding at Guwahati, pilgrims of Assam were asked to take normal passenger flight instead of international chartered flight. It was submitted that the Haj Committee of India had cancelled the chartered flight from Guwahati but the excess amount which was deposited by the pilgrims for the chartered flight was not refunded.
Petitioners, thus, submitted representations to Respondent 2 seeking a refund of excess amount collected from Haj pilgrims but the Haj Committee neither disposed of the representations nor refunded the amount to petitioners. Being aggrieved by the same, the present petition was filed to direct the Haj Committee to dispose of the representations submitted by petitioners in accordance with Section 42 of the 2002 Act.
The Court thus directed Respondent 2, to dispose of the representations submitted by petitioners strictly in the light of the provisions contained in Section 42 of the 2002 Act. Further, Respondent 2 was directed to dispose of the representations by speaking order after hearing petitioners and by adhering to the mandate of Section 42 of the 2002 Act. The Court stated that all exercises for compliance with this order should be completed within a period 90 days from the day of passing of the present order.
[Samsul Hussain v. Union of India, WP(C) 6257 of 2024, decided on 29-11-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the petitioner: H K J Ahmed, Counsel
For the Respondent: DY.S.G.I., GA, Assam
