New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued a notice on a plea challenging the Delhi government to utilise the consolidated fund of the national capital to release the salaries and honorarium to Imams and Muezzins of Delhi Waqf Board and Non-Waqf Boards.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora sought the Delhi government's response, along with those of its Finance and Planning departments and the Delhi Waqf Board. The plea was filed by advocate Rukmani Singh, who sought to restrain the Delhi government and the Delhi Waqf Board from providing salaries to Imams and Muezzins from the consolidated fund.
The court observed the issue requires consideration and thus issued a notice, and the next detailed hearing is now listed for July 22.
Singh argued in her plea that the Delhi government's practice of paying honorarium to a few individuals of a particular religious community without taking in consideration the financial conditions of the similar category of people in other communities stands in direct contravention of the secular nature of the State and is in violation of Article 14, 15(1) and 27, 266 and 282 of the Constitution.
She also cited a previous Supreme Court ruling in All India Imam Organisation v. Union of India, where it was observed that the Waqf Board is duty-bound to harness resources to pay the Imams who perform the most important duty, namely of leading community prayer in a mosque.
“In view of the foregoing, it is apparent that the act of the Respondent No.1 state is very well against the Constitutional canons as well as the judgment passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. It is submitted that payment cannot be made to one particular sect of the religion from the consolidated fund of the State,” the plea by Rukmani Singh read.
The two-judge bench of the Delhi HC also impleaded the state government's Revenue Department as a party respondent in the PIL after an oral request was made by Santosh Kumar Tripathi, the Delhi Government's standing counsel.
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