Supreme Court Refuses To Interfere With Hajj Airfare From Kerala, Asks Ministry To Explain Why Charges From Calicut Are Higher

The Supreme Court today disposed of a petition seeking rationalization of airfare structure across Kerala for the 2025 Hajj, saying it would not be prudent for the Court to express any opinion in that regard. In fact, any intervention by this Court will be counter-productive for the Hajj pilgrims, as in the event of recusal by any airline to fly on the agreed rates, it is likely to cause irreversible hardship to them", noted a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh. Briefly put, the petitioners had sought intervention of the Court alleging that excess airfare was being charged from Hajj pilgrims travelling from Calicut to Jeddah. The reliefs sought included: a direction to the Respondents to rationalize and rectify the airfare structure for Haj 2025 to ensure uniformity and fairness among all embarkation points in Kerala; a direction to the Respondents to permit the Petitioners to change the Embarkation Point from Calicut to any other Airport of their choice, within a timeframe to be fixed by the Court, and/or a direction to the Respondents to refund/reimburse the excess airfare charged to the affected pilgrims from Calicut International Airport.