Hajj pilgrims free to pick any airline

The High Court yesterday cleared the way for the hajj pilgrims to choose any airline while going to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj.
The court also declared illegal a government decision that said that the pilgrims must choose Biman Bangladesh or Saudi Arabian Airlines for pilgrimage.
An HC bench of Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Justice Md Habibul Gani gave the verdict after hearing a petition that had challenged the legality of the decision.
Abdul Kabir Khan, vice president of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh, and a hajj pilgrim, Rezaul Islam, filed the petition on July 29 last year.
The HC on that day ruled that the hajj pilgrims could pick any airline while going to Saudi Arabia.
On the same day it also issued another rule upon the government to explain why the decision should not be declared illegal.
Later, the Supreme Court stayed the HC order responding to an appeal filed by the government seeking a stay on the rule.
However, after yesterday's HC verdict the pilgrims could choose any airline, said petitioners' counsels Mahbub Shafique and KM Hafizul Alam to The Daily Star.
The stay order of the SC was not in force following the HC verdict, they added.
Deputy Attorney General Mokhlesur Rahman said the government was to decide whether it would move an appeal before the Supreme Court against the HC verdict.

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