[01st
February 2024] In exercise of the powers
conferred by section 47 of the Haj Committee Act, 2002 (Central Act 35 of
2002), the Government of Kerala, hereby makes the following rules further to
amend the Kerala State Haj Committee Rules, 2020, issued by notification under G.O.(P)
No.17/2020/GAD. dated 23rd October, 2020 and published as S.R.O. No.808/2020 in
the Kerala Gazette Extraordinary No.2709 dated 9th November, 2020,namely:- (1)
These rules may be called the Kerala State
Haj Committee (Amendment) Rules, 2024. (2)
They shall come into force at once. In the Kerala State Haj
Committee Rules, 2020,- (1)
in third sentence in the introductory part,
for the word "make", the word "makes" shall be substituted. (2)
In the marginal heading of rule 1, for the
word "commencements", the word "commencement" shall be
substituted. In rule 2,- (a)
in sub-rule (1) ,- (i)
(aa) "Auditor" means an auditor of
the Kerala State Audit Department. (ii)
In clause (d) for the word "Committee",
the words "State Committee" shall be substituted. (b)
in sub -rule (2),- (i)
for the word "meanings" the word
"meaning" shall be substituted; (ii)
for the word "that Act" the words
"the Act" shall be substituted. for sub-rule (1) of rule 3,
the following sub-rule shall be substituted, namely:- "(1)
The Kerala State Haj Committee shall
consist of the following sixteen members nominated by the Government, as
provided under section 18 of the Act, namely: (i)
one member from among the Muslim Members of
the Parliament representing the State ; (ii)
two members from the Muslim Members of the
State Legislative Assembly; (iii)
three Muslim Members from the local bodies in
State; (iv)
three members having expertise in Muslim
theology and law including one who shall be a shiya Muslim; (v)
five members from Muslim Voluntary
Organizations working in the fields of Public Administration, Finance,
Education, Culture or Social Work; (vi)
the Chairperson of the Kerala State Wakf
Board ; and (vii)
Executive Officer of the State Committee, who
shall be the ex-officio member of the State Committee." In rule 4,- (i)
in sub-rule (1),- (a)
for the words "Forty five", the
words and symbol "Fortyfive" shall be substituted. (b)
for the words "the time", the words
and symbol "the date, time", shall be substituted; (c)
in the proviso, for the words " the ex
officio members", the words and symbol "an ex-officio member",
shall be substituted. (ii)
in sub-rule(4) , for the word "
Chairman" the word "chairperson" shall be substituted: (iii)
in sub-rule (5), in the first sentence for
the word "chairperson" , the word "Chairperson" shall be
substituted. for rule 5, the following
rule shall be substituted, namely:- "5.
Reconstitution of the State Committee.-
The reconstitution of the State Committee provided in section 22 of the Act
shall be regulated as follows, namely:- (a)
the Government shall take or forced to be
taken all necessary steps for the reconstitution of the new State Committee at
least four months before the expiry of the term of the committee. (b)
an outgoing member shall be eligible for
re-nomination of the State Committee for not more than two terms: Provided that fifty percent
of the nominees may be re-nominated for a second term in such manner as follows; (i)
the Member of Parliament and one of the two
members from the State Legislative Assembly may be re-nominated in the first
instance. (ii)
at least one member each may be re-nominated
from the categories of members presenting local bodies in the State, members
having expertise in Muslim theology and law, and members representing Muslim
voluntary organizations working in the fields of public administration,
finance, education, culture or social work. Rule 6 shall be omitted; in rule 7,- (i)
in sub-rule (1), after the words "as may
be fixed by Chairperson", the symbol "." shall be inserted; (ii)
in sub-rule (2) for the words, bracket and
symbol "sub rule (1) of rule 8" the words bracket, figure and symbol
"sub-rule (1)," shall be substituted; (iii)
in the proviso of sub-rule (2) the following
proviso, shall be substituted namely:- "Provided that the
Chairperson may fix an extraordinary meeting of the Committee on receiving a
written requisition by at least one-third of the members of the State
Committee. Such meeting should be convened on a date not later than four days
from the date of receipt of such requisition." in rule 8,- (i)
in sub-rule (1), after the word
"meeting", the symbol "." shall be inserted; (ii)
in sub-rule (4), after the words "the
consent of", the words "a majority of" shall be inserted; in rule 9,- (i)
after the marginal heading, the bracket and
figure "(1)" shall be omitted; (ii)
after the word "attending", the
symbol "," shall be omitted; (iii)
for the word and symbol "State;",
the word and symbol "State:" shall be substituted; (iv)
in the first proviso, - (a)
for the words "member of
Parliament", the words "Member of Parliament" shall be
substituted; (b)
for the words "House of the
people", the words "House of the People" shall be substituted; (v)
in the third proviso, for the words
"abroad travel", the words "travel abroad" shall be
substituted. for rule 10, the following
rule shall be substituted, namely:- "Terms and conditions
of Service of the Executive Officer.- (1)
The Government shall appoint a person, from
amongst its officers not below the rank of Deputy Secretary to Government, to
be the Executive Officer of the State Committee: Provided that the person so
appointed shall preferably be a Muslim. (2)
The Government shall pay the Executive
Officer such salary and allowances as that of his parent Department or as be
fixed by the Government from time to time and shall make such contributions
towards his leave allowances, pension and provident fund as may be required by
the conditions of the Service. (i)
The Terms and Conditions of Service of
Executive Officer and Employees of the Committee and General Conditions of Recruitment,
Appointment, Retirement Benefits, Leave Rules, Conduct Punishment and Appeals
etc., as mentioned in Chapter V may be as per State Government Service Rules; (ii)
There should not be any financial liability
on Haj Committee of India on account of above developments. (3)
When disciplinary proceedings have to be
initiated against the Executive Officer, the Secretary to the Government in the
General Administration Department shall make an enquiry against such officer
and report to the Government and the Government shall have the power to impose
any penalty as contemplated under the Kerala Civil Services (Classifications,
Control and Appeal) Rules, 1960. (4)
State Haj Committee can propose to State
Government to remove the Executive Officer by a resolution with two -third
attendance of members and majority of the committee voting on valid reasons
like misappropriation, dereliction of duty or action against the interest of
pilgrims. Decision of State Government shall be final in these cases. (5)
The Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1960
for the time being in force shall apply to the Executive Officer. (6)
The Confidential Report on the work and
conduct of the Executive Officer shall be prepared and forwarded by the
Chairperson. in sub- rule (1) of rule 12,- (a)
for the words "the rules relating to
casual leave for Government servants and the leave rules", the words
"The rules relating to leave" shall be substituted; (b)
for the word "committee", the word
"Committee" shall be substituted. in rule 14,- (i)
for sub-rule (1), the following sub-rule
shall be substituted namely:- "The Executive Officer
shall prepare the cadre strength and staff pattern of the employees required
for the working of the office of the Committee, whose pay and allowances are
debited to the Haj Fund Account indicating name of the Post, Scale of Pay and
other allowances, total number of posts required, number of temporary posts
required during Haj seasons, qualifications and eligibility for the post,
method of appointment, terms and conditions of appointment etc., soon after the
publication of the notification of these rules and place it before the
Committee." (ii)
in sub-rule (2), for the words "cadre
strength", the words, figure, symbol and bracket "proposals in
sub-rule (1)" shall be substituted; (iii)
in sub-rule (3), for the words "any
changes", the words "any change" shall be substituted; (iv)
in sub-rule (4), for the words, figures,
symbol and brackets "sub-rule (1) and (2)", the words, figures,
symbol and bracket "sub-rule (2)" shall be substituted; (v)
in sub-rule (6),- (a)
after the words "the Kerala Civil
Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules", the symbol
"," shall be inserted; (b)
for the word "Servants", the word
"Servants" shall be substituted. in rule 15,- (i)
in sub-rule (1), for the words
"committee at least sixty days before the beginning of the financial
year", the words "Committee before the month of September every
year" shall be substituted; (ii)
in sub - rule(3), for the word
"alteration", the word "alterations" shall be substituted; (iii)
in sub - rule (7), (a)
for the word "year", the words
"financial year" shall be substituted; (b)
for the word "supplemental", the
word "supplementary" shall be substituted. in rule 16,- (i)
in the marginal heading, for the word
"fund", the word "Fund" shall be substituted; (ii)
in sub-rule (1), for the words "shall
from", the words "shall form" shall be substituted; (iii)
in clause (b) of sub-rule(4), the words and
symbol "The State Co-operative Bank", the words and symbol " the
State Co-operative Bank." shall be substituted; (iv)
for sub-rule (8), the following sub-rule
shall be substituted, namely:- "All payments from
State Haj Fund shall be made by cheque/e.pay." (v)
in sub-rule (9), for the words "accounts
books", the words "accounting books" shall be substituted; (vi)
in sub-rule (10), for the words "brought
to the account", the words "brought to account" shall be
substituted; (vii)
in sub-rule (11), for the words "to
censure the fees", the words and symbol "to ensure that/whether the
fees " shall be substituted; (viii)
for sub-rule (14), the following sub-rule
shall be substituted, namely:- "Disposal of any
immovable assets of the State Haj Committee should be with the permission of
Government. In the case of movable assets it can be disposed off on usual
procedures up to the book value of rupees ten thousand by the committee and
above rupees ten thousand with the sanction from the Government." (ix)
in sub-rule (15), for the words "State
Government", the word "Government" shall be substituted. in rule 17,- (i)
in sub-rule (1), for the words "The
Director of Local Fund Audit", the words "The Director of Kerala
State Audit Department" shall be substituted; (ii)
in sub-rule (3), for the words "auditors
report", the words "audit report" shall be substituted; (iii)
in sub-rule (4), for the words " an
auditor in his report be", the words "an audit report shall be"
substituted. for sub-rule (3) of rule 18,
the following sub-rule shall be substituted, namely:- "Where the Committee
propose to enter into any contract for the supply of material or for the
execution of any work, the Committee shall:- (a)
invite tenders by advertising them in at
least two newspapers having wide circulation in the State, if the estimated cost
of such material or work exceeds rupees twenty - five thousand. (b)
invite quotations by publishing notice on the
notice board of the office of the Committee, if the estimated cost of such
material or work does not exceeds rupees twenty - five thousand. in rule 20,- (i)
in sub-rule (1), for the words "the
Chairperson", the words "The Chairperson" shall be substituted; (ii)
sub-rule (3) shall be omitted. for rule 21, the following
rule shall be substituted, namely:- "The Executive Officer shall
forward an annual report on the working and administration of the Committee for
each year within thirty days after the end of the financial year in such form,
with such details to the Government with the approval of the Committee. The
report of the Executive Officer shall be prepared in Form 1 appended to these
rules." for sub-rule (1) of rule 22,
the following sub-rule shall be substituted, namely:- "A person requiring a
copy of minutes, records or proceedings or any document of the Committee shall
present an application giving his full name and address and as accurate a
description as possible." in rule 23,- (i)
in sub-rule (1), for the words "copy of
minutes or record or proceedings or document", the words "copies of
minutes or records or proceedings or documents" shall be substituted; (ii)
in sub-rule (3), after the word
"original", the symbol "," shall be inserted. for sub-rule (1) of rule 24,
the following sub-rule shall be substituted, namely:- "The Executive Officer
or such other officer authorised by him to issue copies of minutes or records
or proceedings or any other documents of the Committee shall keep a register to
record the grant of copies of extracts of the records." rule 25 shall be omitted. for rule 26, the following
rule shall be substituted, namely:- "In case of any
provisions of the Kerala State Haj Committee Rules are not in conformity with
the provisions contained in the Act, provisions of the Act will prevail." in the Explanatory Note, for
the words and figures "Haj Committee Act 1959", the words, figures,
symbol and bracket "Haj Committee Act,1959 (Central Act 51 of 1959) shall
be substituted.Kerala
State Haj Committee (Amendment) Rules, 2024