As per the guidelines approved by the Supreme Court of India in its order dated 23.07.2012, the number of seats allocated on the recommendations of the dignitaries are limited to the following:
The President of India - 100 seats
The Vice-President - 75 seats
The Prime Minister - 75 seats
Ministry of External Affairs - 50 seats
Haj Committee of India - 200 seats
With the transfer of Haj Affairs from Ministry of External Affairs to Ministry of Minority Affairs from 1st October, 2016, the seats reserved for MEA are being allocated on the recommendation of Minister of Minority Affairs. The Haj quota allotted to Haj Committee of India (HCoI) are allocated to all States/ Union Territories in proportion of their Muslim population as per Census 2011. Further, as per the new Haj Policy for HCoI pilgrims for Haj 2018-22, in accordance with the new formula of allocation of surplus seats generated by under-utilized quota of States for Haj 2018, 2000 additional seats have been allocated to the State of Jammu & Kashmir as a special quota. Thus, for Haj 2018, a total of 10062 seats have been allocated to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. A total of 7960 seats were allocated during Haj 2017. As regards the Haj quota allotted to private tour operators (PTOs), for Haj 2018, a total of 46,323 seats have been allocated to 609 PTOs from across the country. The selection of PTOs is done from among the applicant PTOs located in different parts of the country provided they fulfil the laid down eligibility conditions. For the State of Jammu and Kashmir, out of 11 PTO applicants, 7 PTOs have been selected and allocated quota for Haj 2018.
This information was given by Union Minister for Minority Affairs Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
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JN/FH/IA