New Delhi, Aug 31 - The Ministry of External Affairs has revised its rules for allocation of quota for Haj pilgrims for private tour operators.

This was decided at a meeting chaired by External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and attended by Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor and Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati on Aug 27.

The move comes after court judgments in cases of private tour operators (PTOs) who went to court after the application had been rejected by the ministry.

'Since 2008, various court decisions have underlined the need for equitable and fair allocation of Haj quota among all the eligible PTOs including newer applicants,' said a ministry of external affairs press release.

Out of India's quota of 160,491 Haj pilgrims, private tour operators are allocated 45,491, while the rest go through the Haj Committee of India.

'Based on the above court guidelines, legal opinion, the requirement of compliance with court orders and the need to evolve a framework to reform the PTOs quota allocation process based on transparency and objectivity, it has been decided to allocate the quota of 45,491 for Haj 2009 to all those eligible PTOs who have been applying (including the old PTOs who have received quotas) for at least two years or more until 2008,' said the press note.