The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Haj Committee of India (HCoI) to be present in court on November 1 to clarify the committee’s stand on a petition challenging the bar on differently abled people from performing the annual pilgrimage.
A Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V.K. Rao gave the direction after no one appeared for the HCoI, despite a notice being served to it on the petition filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal. The Bench directed the secretary of Ministry of Minority Affairs to serve an additional notice to the HCoI Chief Executive Officer M.A. Khan and observed that in case of non-appearance of the officer, action will be taken by the court.
The new Haj policy, issued in November last year under the Ministry of Minority Affairs debars “persons suffering from polio, tuberculosis, congestive and respiratory ailment, acute coronary insufficiency, coronary thrombosis, mental disorder, infectious leprosy, AIDS, or any other communicable disability or handicapped” from applying for Haj pilgrimage.
The petition, filed in public interest, said that the new Haj Policy, which will be effective for the next five years starting 2018, was “discriminatory, arbitrary and highly irrational” as it violates fundamental rights of disabled persons.
Advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal, who filed the petition, said the new policy was in violation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPWDA), 2016 that has equality and non-discrimination as its guiding principle.
Mr. Bansal also sought quashing of another clause in the new policy which says “those who do not have the mental and physical health to perform the pilgrimage” cannot apply.
“By way of barring persons with disabilities from applying to Haj pilgrimage under the new Haj policy, the authorities have adopted discriminatory approach towards persons with disabilities,” the petition said.
The Centre, in its response, has said the bar on differently abled people from undertaking Haj was retained in the new policy as was the practice for the past 30 years, since the journey is physically demanding.
The purpose is also to strictly screen the differently abled due to instances of them indulging in begging, which is prohibited in Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Minority Affairs has said in its affidavit.