ANJUMAN KHADDAMUL HUJJAI, ETC. ETC. versus UNION OF INDIA AND ANR. ETC. ETC.

Citation: [2000] 3 S.C.R. 1153 · Decided: 05-05-2000 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: S. SAGHIR AHMAD, DORAISWAMY RAJU · Disposal: Directions issued

Judgment (excerpt)

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ANJUMAi~ KHADDAMUL HUJJAI, ETC. ETC. 
A 
v. 
UNION OF INDIA AND ANR. ETC. ETC. 
MAYS, 2000 
(S. SAGHIR AHMAD AND DORAISWAMY RAJU, JJ.] 
B 
Haj Committee Act, 1959 : 
S. 4-"Haj Committee"-Composition of-Pilgrimage by sea not in 
practice since 1993-Needfor replacing Members mentioned in~- 4(1)(a) to c 
(f)-Govemment in the process of replacing the existing Act-Held, till the new 
Act/Ordinance is brought out, Foreign Secretary in the Ministry of External 
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Affairs would control, supervise and oversee the performance of the present 
"Haj Committee" and it will be in his discretion to nominate in place of 
Members indicated in,s. 4( 1)( a) to (f) such persons of merit and high integrity 
as would be useful in the proper management of Haj affairs on the Committee 
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so that Haj pilgrims do not suffer for lack of adequate arrangements. 
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 584 of 1998 
Etc. Etc. 
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(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.) 
E 
K.N. Rawal; Mukul Rohtagi, Additional Solicitor Generals, Rakesh 
Dwivedi, Rajendra Singh, E.C. Vidya Sagar, T.C. Shanna, B.K. Pr~ Rajiv 
Nanda, Anees Ahmad, R.C. Verma, C. Siddharth and Navin Prakash for the 
appearing parties. 
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The following Order of the Court was delivered : 
The present Haj Committee Act, l959 (51 of 1959],' which had replaced 
the Port Haj Committee Act, 1932,' was enacted for the objects.and reasons 
set out in the Gazette of India, 1959, Extra., Pt. II Section 2, page 1161, which 
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are as follows : 
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"According to the Port Haj Committees Act,.1932, as originally en-
acted, three Port Haj Committees were constituted at the three ports of 
Bombay, Calcutta and Karachi. Consequent upon constitutional changes in the 
country,· the Act was. suitably amended to provide for the continuance of the 
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1153 
1154 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2000] 3 S.C.R. 
A 
Calcutta and the Bombay Committees only, the reference to the Karachi 
Committee being omitted therefrom. The Calcutta Cominittee, however, 
ceased to function from 1948 owing to the partition of Bengal and there is 
a balance of about Rs.15,000 lying to the credit of the defunct Port Haj Fund, 
Calcutta, which cannot be utilised for any other purpose or transferred to any 
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Port Haj Fund unless the Act is amended. Further all pilgrim traffic to Saudi 
Arabia, Iraq and Iran is now centralised at Bombay. 
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2. It is, therefore, considered desirable that the Act should be revised 
to bring it in line with the present requirements of the Haj pilgrims and to 
make the Port Haj Committee a representative body of the country. 
3. The Bill seeks to achieve this object." 
In order to manage the pilgrims traffic, a Committee, known as "Haj 
Committee" was constituted under the Act The 'Committee' is defined under 
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Section 2(a). 'Pilgrim' has been defined in Section 2(b) as "a Muslim 
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proceeding on or returning from pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Iran 
or Jordan." "Pilgrim ship" has been defined in Section 2(c) as "a ship 
conveying or about to convey pilgrims from or to the port of Bombay to or 
from any port in the Red Sea other 'than Suez." Section 4 relating to the 
composition of the "Haj Committee" provides as under : · 
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"4. Composition of the Committee - (1) The Committee shall consist 
of the following members, namely :-
(a) the Collector of Customs, Bombay, ex- officio; 
(b) the Chairman, Port Trust,. Bombay, ex-officio; 
( c) the Principal Officer, Mercantile Marine Department, Bombay, ex-
officio. 
(d) the Commissi011.er of Police for Greater Bombay, ex-officio; 
(e) the Municipal Commissioner, Gi-eater Bombay, ex-officio; 
(f) the Port Health Officer, Bombay, ex-officio; 
(g) two members to be nominated by the Central Government; 
(h) three member~ of Parliament of whom two are to be nominated 
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A.K. HUJJAI, ETC. ETC. v. U.0.1. 
1155 
by the Speaker of the House of the People from among its members 
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and one by the Chairman of the Council of States from among its 
members; 
(i) one member to represent the State Government of Maharashtra to 
be nominated by that Government; 
(j) two members of the Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly to be 
nominated by the Speaker of that Assembly; 
(k) two members of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay 
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to be nominated by the State Government of Maharashtra on the 
recommendation of the Muslim members of the Municipal Corpora-
C 
tion of Greater Bombay; 
(1) three members, of whom 

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