Riyadh : Citizens and expatriates who are found transporting, employing, sheltering or providing cover-up to any overstaying Umrah pilgrim will be imprisoned and fined, Director of Public Relations and Information Administration at the Directorate General of Passports (Jawazat) Brig. Gen. Muhammad Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saad reiterated on Sunday.

During the launch of the Passport Department’s annual awareness campaign on the Umrah season, Saad said that expatriates violating Umrah regulations will be deported after serving imprisonment and paying fines.

The penalties are multiplied if the number of violators are more than one. The Umrah regulation awareness campaign will continue from Dec. 2, 2018 to June 18, 2019.

It aims to acquaint Umrah pilgrims coming from abroad with the Kingdom’s regulations, which do not allow them to overstay their visas.

The Jawazat has completed its preparations to serve Umrah pilgrims and has readied offices at international entry points.

Well-trained staff have been provided with sophisticated equipment to detect forged documents and fake photos on Umrah pilgrims’ official travel documents, Saad said.

Courtesy : saudigazette.com.sa

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New Delhi, May 11 (PTI): The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea seeking a direction to the Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the West Bengal governments to implement the National Education Policy, including its three-language formula.

A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan said the top court could not issue such directions to state governments.

"The Supreme Court, through Article 32 of the Constitution, can issue directives to ensure that the fundamental rights of citizens are protected. It cannot directly compel a state to adopt a policy like the National Education Policy, 2020," the bench said in an order passed on Friday.

"The court may, however, intervene if a state's action or inaction related to the National Education Policy violates any fundamental rights or any other legal rights. We do not propose to examine this issue in this writ petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution," it added.

The petitioner has nothing to do with the cause he proposes to espouse, the top court further said.

"Although he may be from the state of Tamil Nadu, yet, on his own admission, he is now residing in New Delhi. The main issue may be examined by this court in an appropriate proceeding but at least not in this particular petition," the bench said.

The apex court was hearing a plea filed by advocate GS Mani seeking directions to implement the National Education Policy, 2020.