New Delhi, April 25: The Centre has sought the Supreme Court’s permission to extend subsidy to Haj and Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims this year.

The apex court had allowed the subsidy in an order last September after the Centre challenged an Allahabad High Court interim order restraining the government from providing funds or financial subsidy to pilgrims.

It also asked the high court to dispose of the case within a year.

The Centre now wants the relief for another year, saying the high court has still not given its final ruling on the matter.

With the Mansarovar yatra coming up in June and Haj by the end of the year, the Centre says it must know the legal position before going ahead with travel arrangements.

The first batch of Haj pilgrims is likely to leave in November. The Mansarovar trip may begin from June 1.

A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan said it would take up the Centre’s plea on May 7 after solicitor-general G.E. Vahanvati sought an urgent hearing.

The Centre argued that the high court’s interim order, passed on a public interest petition, ignored the efforts made to secure quota for Indians at Haj programmes.

The court had also failed to appreciate the fact that India was home to one of the largest number of Muslims in the world, it said.

“Better relations between nations, including Arab countries, is an aspect of international relations and foreign policy that the Haj pilgrimage fosters,” the Centre said.

A PIL against the Haj subsidy is pending before the apex court. The Centre has been asked to file its response.

The petition, filed by former BJP Rajya Sabha MP Praful Goradia, wants the Haj Committee Act, 1959, to be scrapped. The PIL says the law is in conflict with the secular structure of the Constitution.

Goradia has said the law was meant to replace the Port Haj Committee Act, 1932, framed by the British government as part of its divide-and-rule policy.