LexUNION OF INDIA & ORS. versus RAFIQUE SHAIKH BHIKAN & ANR.
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[2012] 5 S.C.R. 715 UNION OF INDIA & ORS. v. RAFIQUE SHAIKH BHIKAN & ANR. (Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 28609 of 2011) MAY 8, 2012 [AFTAB ALAM AND RANJANA PRAKASH DESAI, JJ.] Hajj Policy: A B Registration of Private Tour Operators (PTOs) for ferrying c Hajj Pilgrims - Eligibility conditions - Reasonableness of restrictions imposed for registration as PTO - Held: Object.of registering PTOs is not to distribute the Hajj seats to PTOs for making business profits but to ensure that the pilgrim may be able to perform his religious duty without undergoing any 0 difficulty, harassment or suffering - Restriction would not be unreasonable merely because in a given case it operates harshly - Therefore, no objection can be taken to high standards and stringent conditions being set up for registration as PTOs and the court's interference would be called for only E if it is shown that any of the conditions was purely subjective or designed to exclude any individual or group of private operators/travel agents i.e. bordering on malice. Registration of Private Tour Operators - Conditions laid down in the 2012 Hajj Policy - Restriction of minimum F requirement of 250 sq. ft. office area (carpet) - Held: There is no arbitrariness or unreasonableness in the requirement of minimum office area - This condition ensures that only genuine operators approach for Hajj Quota i.e. those who have a proper and well maintained office and those who are G genuinely interested in taking the pilgrims to Saudi Arabia - The condition is further meant to scrutinize the PTOs who sell their Quota to other PTOs. 715 H 716 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2012] 5 S.C.R. A Registration of Private Tour Operators - Restriction of minimum annual turnover of Rs. 1 crore and refundable security deposit of Rs.25 lakhs - Held: Each PTO is to be given quota of at least' 50 pilgrims as per the bilateral agreement between Government of India and Kingdom of B Saudi Arabia - Admittecfly, the turnover on the basis of a quota of 50 Hajj pilgrims alone would not be less than Rs. 75 lakhs - this would mean that if a private operator/travel agent is asking for a readymade business package worth Rs. 75 lakhs in turnover, he should have at least a turnover of Rs. 1 c crore from his own business - Thus, the turnover fixed in the Policy is a modest figure1 - Similarly security deposit of Rs.25 lakhs is reasonable - PTOs should be financially sound to face the unforeseen situation arising during Hajj - This condition would be nece1ssary to keep PTOs under check so 0 that they provide the promised facilities to the pilgrims. Registration of Private Tour Operators - Condition of disqualification in cas13 of court case against the private operator - Held: Court case that might render a private operator/travel agent ineligible for registration means a case E instituted against the private operator/travel agent as an accused or in regard to some liability against him. Hajj subsidy - Central Government directed to progressively reduce the amount of subsidy so as to F completely eliminate it within a period of 10 years as subsidy money can be more profitably used for upliftment of the community in education and other indices of social development . . Goodwill Delegation - Nomination qf members of G Delegation - Held: Was in complete violation of Article 14 of the Constitution - No purpose can be served by sending large, unwieldy, amorphous and randomly selected delegation - Practice of sending D19legation must come to stop. H Reservation of 1 ·1,000 seats for different categories by UNION OF INDIA & ORS. v. RAFIQUE SHAIKH 717 BHIKAN & ANR. Government of India - Union of India directed to file affidavit A stating in greater detail the way the quota of 11, 000 seats is being allocated for 2012 Hajj, the procedure followed by Hajj ·Committee of India and State Hajj Committee in making selection for sending pilgrims for Hajj Prem Printing Press v. Bihar State Text Book Publishing B Corporation Ltd. & Ors., 2001 (4) PLJR 311; Ranjit Kumar Ghosh v. State of Bihar and Others 2004 (3) BLJR 2242; Tata Cellular v. Union of India (1994) 6 SCC 651: 1994 (2) Suppl. SCR 122; Union of India and another v. International Trading C Co. and another (2003) 5 SCC 437: 2003 (1) Suppl. SCR 55 - relied on Case Law Reference: 2001 (4) PLJR 311 relied on Para 11 2004 (3) BLJR 2242 relied on Para 12 1994 (2) Suppl. SC
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