CIC Controversy: CIC Mahurkar surrounded by a statement on the salary of Imams, a lawyer seeks permission for contempt case

The problems of the country's Information Commissioner (CIC) Uday Mahurkar may increase due to the comment on the Supreme Court's decision to pay salaries to the Imams of the mosques. A Supreme Court lawyer has sought the initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against Mahurkar. For this, the lawyer has filed a petition before the Attorney General for his consent.

In the petition before the AG, Advocate Tapan Kumar Dev has submitted for the CIC that 'the alleged contemnor is not even a law graduate to understand the nuances of the law. He has termed the decision passed by the Supreme Court as a violation of the Constitution and setting a wrong precedent.

In 1993, the Supreme Court directed the Delhi Waqf Board to pay salaries to the imams of the mosques run by it, on a petition by Maulana Jameel Ilyasi, president of the All India Imam Organization. Like Delhi, the Waqf Board pays salaries to the Imams of mosques in some other states, including Haryana and Karnataka.

Let me tell you, Central Information Commissioner Uday Mahurkar, after hearing the application filed by an RTI activist Subhash Aggarwal, had termed the Supreme Court's decision on the salary of Imams as unconstitutional. He had said that taxpayers' money cannot be used to promote any one religion. Mahurkar directed to send a copy of his order to the Union Law Minister so that the implementation of Articles 25 to 28 of the Constitution could be ensured in letter and spirit.

The Supreme Court judgment on May 13, 1993, opened the way for the imams and muezzins of mosques to get financial benefits from the exchequer, Information Commissioner Mahurkar said in the order. The Commission is of the view that the decision of the Apex Court was violative of Article 27 of the Constitution. Paying remuneration only to the Imams of mosques and others is a betrayal not only of the Hindu community but also of members of other non-Muslim minority religions.

Imams 18 thousand priests two thousand

Information Commissioner Mahurkar said that the Delhi Waqf Board receives an annual grant of around Rs 62 crore from the Delhi government, while its monthly income from independent sources is around Rs 30 lakh. A monthly honorarium of Rs 18,000 and Rs 16,000 is being paid to the Imams and Muezzins of the Waqf mosques in Delhi, in fact, from the taxpayers' money on behalf of the Delhi government. In contrast, the priest of a Hindu temple is getting only Rs 2000 per month from the trust that controls the temple.

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