Haj Committee Act, 2002
No: 35 Dated: Jun, 11 2002
Haj Committee Act, 2002
Act No. 35 of 2002
An Act to establish a Haj Committee of India and State Haj Committees for making arrangements for the pilgrimage of Muslims for Haj, and for matters connected therewith.
BE it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-third Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title and commencement.-(1) This Act may be called the Haj Committee Act, 2002.
(2) It shall come into force on such date or dates as the Central Government may, by notification, appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act and for different States.
2. Definitions.-In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a)"bye-laws" means the bye-laws made under section 45;
(b) "Chief Executive Officer or the Executive Officer" means the Chief Executive Officer of the Committee or the Executive Officer of the State Committee appointed under sub-section (1) of section 16 or sub-section (1) of section 29, as the case may be (c) "Committee" means the Haj Committee of India constituted under section 3;
(d) "member" means a member of the Haj Committee of India nominated under section 4 or of a State Haj Committee nominated under section 18, as the case may be, and includes the Chairperson and a Vice-Chairperson;
(e) "notification" means a notification published in the Gazette of India or the Official Gazette of a State, as the case may be;
(f) "pilgrim" means a Muslim proceeding to, or returning from, Haj;
(g) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under section 44 by the Central Government or, as the case may be, under section 47 by the State Government;
(h) "State Committee" means a State Haj Committee constituted under section 18 and includes Joint State Committee;
(i) "State Government", in relation to a Union territory, means the Administrator of that Union territory appointed by the President under article 239 of the Constitution.
CHAPTER II
Haj Committee of India
3. Constitution and incorporation of Haj Committee of India.-(1) With effect from such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint in this behalf, there shall be constituted a Committee by the name of the Ha Committee of India.
(2) The Committee shall be a body corporate, by the name aforesaid, having perpetual succession and a common seal with power, subject to the provisions of this Act, to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, to create a charitable trust or endowment, and to contract and shall by the said name sue and be sued.
(3) The Committee shall have its headquarters at Mumbai and as and when the Committee considers it functionally necessary, additional regional offices may be opened in consultation with the Central Government.
4. Composition of Committee.-The Committee shall consist of the following members, namely:-
(i) three members of Parliament of whom two are to be nominated by the Speaker of the House of the People from among its Muslim members, and one by the Chairman of the Council of States from among its Muslim members:
Provided that a member of Parliament shall, upon ceasing to be a member, cease to be a member of the Committee and the Speaker of the House of the People or the Chairman of the Council of States, as the case may be, shall make a fresh nomination upon request by the Central Government;
(ii) nine Muslim members of the Committee shall be elected, three from those States sending largest number of pilgrims during last three years and one each from the zones as specified in the Schedule, in such manner as may be prescribed:
Provided that not more than one member shall be elected from a State falling in the zone as specified in the Schedule;
(iii) four persons not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India nominated by that Government to represent the Ministries of External Affairs, Home, Finance and Civil Aviation, as ex officio members;
(iv) seven Muslim members shall be nominated by the Central Government from among the following categories of persons, namely:-
(a) two members who have special knowledge of public administration, finance, education, culture or social work and out of whom one shall be a Shia Muslim;
(b) two women members, out of them one shall be Shia Muslim;
(c) three members who have special knowledge of Muslim theology and law, out of them one shall be a Shia Muslim.