Court of Appeal orders reallocation of Hajj quotas

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda   
The Court of Appeal has ordered the suspension of the previous allocation of Hajj pilgrim quotas for the year 2024 and to include an aggrieved travel agent for proper allocation .   
Each year the Saudi Arabian government allocates quotas to each country in order to manage the influx of pilgrims .   
Sri Lanka had been allocated 3500 pilgrims this year which had been allocated to different travel agents.   
The Court of Appeal made the interim order following a Petition filed by a travel agent.   

The travel agent alleged that the Hajj Committee had arbitrarily suspended their travel licence for a period of two years.   
In the Petition, the Petitioner United Travels said that the decision by the commitee to suspend his licence for two years was done for collateral reasons .   
The Petitioner asked that he be registered as a travel operator for the year 2024 and to suspend the allocation made in December 2024.   
In his order Justice D.N. Samarakone ordered the registration of United Travels as a tour operator and the suspension of the previous allocation made by the Hajj Committee which did not include the Petitioner company.   
Attorney at law Hafeel Farisz with Shannon Thilekaratne appeared for the Petitioner .   
Hejaaz Hizbullah with Shifan Maharoof appeared for the Hajj Committee.   
Mihiri de Alwis appeared for the Attorney General.