Madhya Pradesh High Court: PIL Dismissed Seeking Change Of Embarkation Point From Bhopal To Mumbai; Hajj 2023

The Madhya Pradesh High Court in the case Shahid Ali & Ors. v. Hajj Committe Of India And Ors observed and has dismissed the PIL seeking the change of embarkation point for 2023 Hajj pilgrimage from Bhopal to Mumbai.
The Division bench comprising of Justice Rajendra Kumar Verma and Justice Avanindra Kumar Singh in the case observed and has stated that the petitioner have no locus to file this public interest litigation, as they being neither beneficiary of the scheme nor going to perform the Haj pilgrimage. If any individual in the case has grievance, he may approach the said court by filing separate individual writ petition, otherwise the alarge number of applicants would approach the Haj Authorities which would create chaos and also the planned time table for Haj Pilgrimage would get disturbed to a great extent.
The court in the case stated that the general direction is being sought by the petitioners under the garb of this public interest litigation, as the same cannot be countenanced.
In the present case, the PIL was moved by Shahid Ali and Rehan Ahmad, stated to be social workers, wherein it is alleged that the circular issued in May by the Haj Committee of India provides for charging excessive amount from the Haj pilgrims having their embarkation point at Bhopal as compared to the pilgrims having their embarkation point from the other cities.
The petitioner in the plea alleged that the discriminatory attitude has been adopted by the committee in respect of the different embarkation points and no reasons have been assigned as to why there is a difference of amount between various embarkation points.
Further, the court stated that it is not known as to how many pilgrims would apply under the common order and wish to change their embarkation points.
Therefore, no public interest is involved so as to entertain this public interest litigation, with regards to the same.
Accordingly, the court dismissed the PIL.