SC's 1993 order on monthly sum to Imams violated Constitution, caused social disharmony: CIC

The Supreme Court in 1993 on a petition from the All India Imam Organisation had directed the waqf board to give remuneration to imams in mosques managed by it

In strong observations, the Central Information Commission has said that the Supreme Court by its judgement in 1993 granted monthly sum to imams in mosques from government treasury, in "violation of the Constitution", particularly Article 27, which stated that the tax payers money will not be used to favour any particular religion.

The Supreme Court also set a "wrong precedent", which became a point of unnecessary political slugfest and social disharmony in the society, it said.

Information Commissioner Uday Mahurkar made these observations while dealing with second appeal by noted RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, who challenged denial of information on salary being paid by Delhi Waqf Board to Imams of mosques here.

The Commissioner, in its decision on Friday, said the SC in the case between “All India Imam Organisation And ... vs Union Of India And Ors” on 13 May, 1993, opened the doors to special financial benefits from public treasury to only Imams and muezzins in the mosques.

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"It is necessary to note here that it was the policy of giving special benefits to Muslim community before 1947 that played a key role in encouraging pan-Islamic and fissiparous tendencies in a section of Muslims ultimately leading to the nation’s partition. So giving salaries to Imams and others only in mosques, amounts to not just betraying the Hindu community and members of other non-Muslim Minority religions but also encouraging pan-Islamist tendencies amongst a section of Indian Muslims which are already visible," the order said.

Steps like giving special religious benefits to Muslim community only like the one taken up in the present matter, in fact severely affects interfaith harmony as they invite contempt for the Muslims as a whole from a section of ultra nationalist population, the Commissioner added.

The Commissioner directed that a copy of his order be sent to the Union law minister with suitable action to ensure enforcement of provisions of articles 25 to 28 of the Constitution in letter and spirit to keep all religions on par in terms of monthly remuneration to priests of different religions at the cost of the public exchequer.

The Commissioner ordered the Delhi Waqf Board to pay a compensation of Rs 25,000 to RTI activist Agrawal for the loss of time and resources in chasing the response to his application.

He noted that Waqf Board gets an annual grant of around Rs 62 crore from the Delhi government while its own monthly income from independent sources is just around Rs 30 lakh.

"So the monthly honorarium of Rs 18,000 and Rs 16,000 being given to the imams and muezzins of DWB mosques in Delhi is being paid by the Delhi government virtually from the tax payers money which in turn is in sharp contrast with the example quoted by the appellant in which the priest of a Hindu temple is getting a paltry Rs 2,000 per month from the trust controlling the said temple," he said.