Allegations of unfair money collection from Hajj Pilgrims’ quota

By Ranjan Kasturi

Registered Hajj pilgrims have alleged that the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs has unfairly collected money from Hajj pilgrims by registering far more applicants than the official quota allows 

Although Sri Lanka received a quota of only about 3,500 pilgrims for this year’s 2026 Hajj, the Department of MRCA reportedly registered around 7,000 pilgrims and collected a non-refundable registration fee of Rs. 5,000 from each applicant. 

Under this process, every person wishing to perform Hajj is required to pay Rs. 5,000 as a non-refundable registration fee to the Department of MRCA. 

Pilgrims claim that since nearly 3,500 registered applicants were unable to perform Hajj due to the quota limit, the Department has earned nearly Rs. 20 million from those who lost their chance. 

They further point out that registering double the number of pilgrims despite knowing the quota was limited to 3,500 is highly questionable, and that the Department of MRCA has financially benefited from this practice. 

When contacted, Director of the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs, Mr Mohamed Navas, stated that the Rs. 5,000 registration fee is clearly non-refundable. 

He explained that registering more pilgrims than the quota is done so that if selected pilgrims are unable to travel due to sudden or unavoidable reasons, others can be given the opportunity. 

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Hajj Committee, Mr Riyas Minlar, stated that registering more applicants than the allocated quota is a practice followed every year. 

Unfortunately, it has been observed that this non-refundable registration system was introduced only from the 2025 Hajj onwards. This unfair practice has replaced the previous procedure that was in place prior to the 2025 Hajj, under which backup pilgrims were confirmed to fill vacancies arising from unavoidable cancellations. 

Under the earlier system, pilgrims paid a refundable Hajj registration fee of Rs. 25,000, which was returned if the pilgrim was not selected. The shift to a non-refundable fee structure has therefore raised serious concerns regarding transparency and fairness in the Hajj registration process.