A bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai limited the number of seats to be allocated under dignitaries quota by the President to 100, the Vice President to 75, the Prime Minister to 75 and the External Affairs Minister to 50.
Government had said 2550 seats are reserved for recommendations by dignitaries and eminent persons for needy nominees who have not been successful in the 'Haj Qurrah' of the year.
The seats under the government's dicretionary quota had gone up to 5,050 as it had transfered and merged 2500 seats reserved for the Bohra Community which got 3000 seats for Haj 2012 directly from the Saudi Authorities.
The bench said 200 seats would be reserved for the Haj Committee of India (HCOI) as against the proposed 500.
The bench noted it has no objection in allocation of seats for Haj under government rules but said "this court feels that representation has to be made on reasonable basis".
However, it also clarified that its remark was not meant for the President and the Prime Minister.
Also Read
The court was told that 11,000 seats have been reserved under government quota to be allocated for Haj 2012.
After limiting the seats under dignitaries quota and the HCOI, the bench said remaining seats would go to the Haj committees of various states and union territories.
It also said no high court will entertain any writ petition for registration of pilgrims for Haj 2012. (more)