Only Biman, Saudi Airlines to carry hajj pilgrims: SC

This file photo shows a batch of pilgrims return home from Saudi Arabia after performing hajj. The photo was taken at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

The Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday upheld for eight weeks a government decision that Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines will carry all the hajj pilgrims this year.

The hajj flight is scheduled to begin from September 9 and a total of 1.27 lakh hajj pilgrims are expected to perform hajj this year.

Chamber judge of the Appellate Division of the SC also stayed for eight weeks a High Court (HC) order which ruled that the pilgrims can chose any airlines of their own choice in order to perform hajj in Saudi Arabia.

Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury, the chamber judge, came up with the order after holding hearing on a petition filed by the government seeking stay on the HC order.

The judge also asked the government to submit a leave-to-appeal petition before it against the HC order in eight weeks.

On July 29, Abdul Kabir Khan, vice president of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh; Sheikh Abdullah, its secretary general; and Rezaul Islam, a pilgrim, filed a writ petition challenging the legality of the government decision.

In the petition, they claimed that the decision of the ministry is unconstitutional, arbitrary and against the spirit of competition law.

Following the petition, the HC on the same day ruled that the pilgrims can chose any airlines of their own choice in order to perform hajj and also issued a rule upon the government to explain in four weeks why this decision should not be declared illegal.

On April 24, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism had decided that only Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines would carry the hajj pilgrims.

The judge however permitted Rezaul Islam to choose any airlines to go to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj.