NEW DELHI, Oct 26: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is engaged in a battle of words and court petitions with the Central Haj Committee (CHC) over the arrangements for Haj '99.This follows the clearance given by Minister of State for External Affairs Vasundhara Raje Scindia in June to reconstitute the five-year-old CHC. The CHC, however, has obtained a stay order from the Supreme Court.
The controversy over the arrangements for the Haj -- when approximately one lakh Indian pilgrims will visit Mecca and Madina in March 1999 -- now threatens into snowball with the MEA sending a background paper on the CHC to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The paper alleges that the ``stench of corruption'' pervades Indian Haj management and that the Haj Committee was ``blackmailing'' the BJP Government, giving it a communal colour.
When contacted, Salamat Ullah, chairman of the CHC said: ``I admit the relationship between the MEA and the CHC has become one of confrontation. I have had no trouble with them sincethe past four-and-a-half years and have only had this trouble since the past six months.''
The Haj Committee has passed a strongly-worded resolution against the MEA, stating that its Consulate General in Riyadh had ``usurped'' the powers of the Committee and had ``sabotaged'' the process of acquiring accommodation for the pilgrims. The accommodation contracts, for hiring around 700 dwelling units are expected to be worth Rs 80 crore.
The Haj Committee members say that theirs is an autonomous body set up through an Act of Parliament and the MEA is trying to take all decisions relating to the Haj. ``They are imposing decisions on us, decisions, which, in fact, we should be taking since we are the supreme authority for everything to do with the Haj. The bureaucrats are intent on putting hurdles in our way,'' says Salamat Ullah.
The MEA has written to the PMO that while they did not have enough ``hard evidence'' to initiate criminal proceedings against members of the CHC, there was `substantial anecdotalevidence'' with them. The allegations listed in the MEA's background paper, sent on October 12, are:
CHC members make regular trips to Saudi Arabia and have not been submitting accounts for the same. The CHC members have been taking a daily allowance of $240 with additional Riyal allowance worth Rs 6,600 but despite reminders, have never submitted accounts. Some members of CHC have taken as many as 15 family members for Umhrah free of charge through ``illegal utilisation'' of Air-India charter tickets. The Haj conference has been used to ``malign'' MEA officials. The leadership of the Haj Committee has been able to ``get rid'' of at least four serving officers from Jeddah (including an Ambassador) and have now made personal attacks against three serving MEA officials based in Riyadh and New Delhi. The Haj Committee has even influenced the Intelligence Bureau. On October 7, the IB warned the Government about possible problems of Haj '99, which is replete with errors and clearly``represents'' the views of the CHC.While MEA officials refuse to comment, the CHC denies all allegations.
``As far as allegations of the MEA are concerned, let me tell you that all travel and allowances are taken with their cognizance. Everything is channelised through them. And we have never used a single free air ticket as alleged,'' says Salamt Ullah.
But the MEA is losing the battle, at least for the time being. The process for reconstituting the CHC, which is done every three years, was initiated five months ago, but the MEA was still waiting for the two crucial nominations to come in from Maharashtra.
Also, notwithstanding recommendations from the MEA and Ministry of Finance (MoF) that the Haj subsidy (Rs 12,000 towards airfare for each pilgrim) should be completely done away with this year, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has ordered that it be ``maintained'' at last year's level, which amounted to Rs 122 crore.
Home Minister LK Advani also cleared the Haj subsidy stating on file that``a Cabinet note on this subject is not necessary.''
The CHC, in the meantime, filed a petition in the Supreme Court, stating that they were ``mid-way'' in their preparation for Haj '99. They also stated in the petition that the CHC should not be reconstituted since the BJP Government had already committed itself to amending the defunct 1959 Haj Committee Act. The petition warns that there was ``every possibility of all sorts of confusion as the new committee is yet to be constituted when the preparation for the Haj is midway.''
The stay order has prompted the MEA to do a volte face. They have written to the Ministry of Civil Aviation to permit the Salamat Ullah to be part of the air-charter agreement and have reconciled to allowing CHC members to finalise accommodation for pilgrims.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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