Question : Seats of Haj

(a) whether a number of seats for Haj have been reserved under discretionary quota which are recommended by Hon’ble President of India, Hon’ble Vice-President, Hon’ble Prime Minister, various Ministries including Members of Parliament and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether Jammu and Kashmir being a Muslim majority State has less number of seats resulting in a long wait period for pilgrims intending to perform Haj and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and

(c) whether the Government proposes to increase the Haj quota to private tour operators of the State and if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF MINORITY AFFAIRS
(SHRI MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI)

(a) 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 (MEA) to Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) from 1st October, 2016, the seats reserved for MEA are being allocated on the recommendation of MoMA.

(b) 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 .

(c) 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.

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