Attorney General for India R Venkataramani has received a letter from an advocate asking for his consent to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against an Information Commissioner (IC).The advocate wants to initiate the proceedings against IC for making scandalous observations against the Supreme Court.
The letter was written by Advocate-on-Record Aldanish Rein who said that the IC Uday Mahurkar of the Central Information Commission, on November 25, 2022, observed that the Supreme Court’s 1993 judgment in All India Imam Organisation & Ors v. Union Of India & Ors was violation of Article 27, which says that the taxpayers’ money will not be used to favour any particular religion.
IC had said that the apex court had called for emoluments to be paid to imams throughout the country.
These observations were made by the IC while hearing a matter in which a Right to Information (RTI) applicant had sought details on salaries and other benefits given to imams by the Delhi government.
The RTI applicant asked for information on whether priests of Hindu temples were given such salaries.
The letter by Rein said that the IC has lowered the authority of the Supreme Court by observing that an Islamic nation Pakistan was born out of the demand of a section of Indian Muslims for partition of India along religious lines.
He added that, thus giving salaries to Imams and others only in mosques, amounts to betraying the Hindu community and members of other non-Muslim Minority religions.
It also added that this was encouraging pan-Islamist tendencies amongst a section of Indian Muslims which are already visible.
The letter by the Advocate who want to file a contempt petition said that Mahurkar’s comments were contemptuous and an attempt to disgrace the Muslim community.
The advocate also noted that the Commissioner directed the order copy to be forwarded to the Union Law Minister for suitable action to be taken.
A letter was thus written to take consent from AG Venkataramani in terms of Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, to initiate criminal contempt against Mahurkar.