Earmark separate quota for Haj aspirants aged 70 and above: Supreme Court
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the earmarking of an "exclusive quota" for Haj pilgrims aged 70 and above.
The bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A. M. Khanwilkar and Justice D. Y. Chandrachud said that people who have crossed 70 years would get the benefit of a separate exclusive quota and those between the age group of 65 to 69 who have applied five times or more would also get the benefit of the policy decided by the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
"we direct that the persons who come within the age group of 65 to 69 years and are not successful in going on pilgrimage even once, despite applying for 5th time or more, shall also be covered," the court said in its order.
The court order came in the course of the hearing of a plea by the Kerala Haj committee seeking more quota for the Haj pilgrimage as it has far more applicants and not many of them can be accommodated. It has contended that Bihar, which gets more quota for Haj pilgrims, is not able to utilise it as there are not many applicants there.
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Allahabad HC dismisses petition seeking permission to mount loudspeaker on mosque
Prayagraj, Jan 24 (PTI): The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday dismissed a writ petition seeking direction to the state authorities to permit the mounting of loudspeakers on a Masjid.
The court observed that the religious places were for offering prayers, therefore the use of loudspeakers was not a matter of right.
Dismissing the writ petition filed by Pilibhit-resident Mukhtiyar Ahmad, a two judge-bench, comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Donadi Ramesh, observed, "Religious places are for offering prayers to the divinity and use of loudspeakers cannot be claimed as a matter of right, particularly when often such use of loudspeakers create nuisance for the residents".
At the outset, the state counsel objected to the maintainability of the writ on the grounds that the petitioner was neither a mutawalli, nor did the mosque belong to him.
The court also noted that the petitioner did not have locus to file the writ petition.
The term 'locus' is a legal concept that refers to the right of a person or entity to participate in a legal proceeding or bring a lawsuit.
