New Delhi, May 22 (ANI): Asserting that India sends one of the largest Haj contingents to Saudi Arabia, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna on Tuesday said the government will decide on the steps to be taken by it on the Supreme Court order to end the Haj subsidy after receiving the apex court's judgement.
"They have only given us an interim order. We are awaiting the final order of the Supreme Court and once we get that final order of the Supreme Court then we will decide what about our next step," Krishna told media here.
Earlier addressing the 28th All India Annual Conference for Haj 2012 here, Krishna said: It was only after the interim verdict was announced by the Court that the Haj 2012 Policy could be finalized and released and that was done on May 18, 2012."
"At this juncture, I would like to share with you the fact that representatives of Private Tour Operators, the Haj Committee of India and experts from the legal field were closely involved with the Ministry in the process of making the 2012 Haj Policy. Such a participatory and transparent procedure has been adopted perhaps for the first time ever by the government," he added.
He further said: "This year, we started the preparations for Haj very much ahead of time. As always, we have framed our Haj policy keeping in view the principle objective of the safety and security and comfort and convenience of our pilgrims."
"We had planned to announce the 2012 Haj policy in January or February itself. However, the Special Leave Petition filed by Government of India in the Supreme Court to seek a stay of the Order of the Mumbai High Court on the Haj PTO Policy 2011 was converted by the Hon'ble Court into a Public Interest Litigation to examine the entire Haj policy," he added.
Krishna further said that he has been informed by the Haj Committee chairperson Mohsina Kidwai that the pilgrimage last year had passed off smoothly and was well organised.
"Mohsinaji personally wrote to me that Haj 2011 was a relatively smooth and efficiently organized operation. But I must emphasize that it would not have been possible without the close cooperation of all the stake holders including the Chairperson of the Haj Committee herself and her team of officers in the forefront apart from the officials of the Ministry of External Affairs, our Embassy in Riyadh, the Consulate General in Jeddah and, last but not least in importance, the Haj Mission of India comprising over 500 doctors, paramedics, Assistant Haj Officers, Haj Assistants etc., and others," he said.
"Having said that I would like to alert all the officers dealing with Haj 2012 not to let their guard down and remain alert and ahead of the plans and programmes for Haj 2012. Haj is such a complex and tedious operation that we can ill-afford complacency at any point in time," he added. (ANI)
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