Dhaka: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday upheld a High Court (HC) order that declared illegal the government decision allowing only national flag career Biman and Saudi Arabian Airlines to carry hajj pilgrims from Bangladesh.

A four-member SC bench, led by Chief Justice SK Sinha, passed the order rejecting the leave to appeal filed by the state against the HC order.

Barrister Rokan Uddin Mahbub and Barrister Mahbub Shafiq stood for the writ petitioners while Deputy Attorney General Abdus Salam Mandal argued for the state during the hearing. 

Following the apex court order, hajj pilgrims now can choose any airlines to go to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj, said Barrister Mahbub Shafiq, counsel for the writ petitioners. 

On April 24, 2013, Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry decided that only Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines will carry hajj pilgrims.

Later, Abdul Kabir Khan, vice president of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (Hab), and Rezaul Islam, a pilgrim, filed the writ petition with the HC challenging the decision. 

Responding to the writ petition, the HC on July 29 the same year issued rule upon the government to explain why its decision to carry the entire hajj pilgrims only by Biman and Saudi Arabian Airlines should not be declared illegal. 

It also passed an ad-interim order that the pilgrims can choose airlines of their own choice in order to perform hajj in Saudi Arabia.