Attorney General consent sought for contempt action against Information Commissioner for his remarks on SC judgment

A lawyer on Monday wrote to Attorney General for India R Venkataramani seeking his consent to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against an Information Commissioner (IC) for making scandalous observations against the Supreme Court..The letter written by Advocate-on-Record Aldanish Rein alleges that IC Uday Mahurkar of the Central Information Commission, in his order dated November 25, 2022, observed that the Supreme Court's 1993 judgment in All India Imam Organisation & Ors v. Union Of India & Ors was passed in violation of the provisions of the Indian Constitution, particularly Article 27, which says that the taxpayers' money will not be used to favour any particular religion.In this judgment, the apex court had called for emoluments to be paid to imams of mosques across the country..The IC made the observations 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 applicant had sought, among other details, information on whether priests of Hindu temples were given such salaries..According to Rein's letter, the IC's order lowered the authority of the Supreme Court by observing as under,"...A religious (Islamic) nation Pakistan was born out of the demand of a section of Indian Muslims for partition of India along religious lines. Despite Pakistan choosing to be a religious (Islamic) nation, India chose a Constitution guaranteeing equal rights to all religions. 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. 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 letter termed Mahurkar's comments "contemptuous" and "an attempt to disgrace the Muslim community and further spread disharmony amongst different communities on the strength of the Supreme Court order for some ulterior motives." It was also noted that the Commissioner directed the order copy to be forwarded to the Union Law Minister for suitable action to be taken.This, Rein said, was a clear attempt to scandalize and lower the authority of the Supreme Court. Therefore, he sought consent from AG Venkataramani in terms of Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, to initiate criminal contempt against Mahurkar..[Read CIC Order]