1993 Supreme Court Judgment orders Payment of Salaries to Imams

February 21, 2004

Namaskar Mitra,

Supreme Courts asks Central Government to pay Imam Salaries. AIR 1993 SUPREME

COURT 2086, K. RAMASWAMY AND R. M. SAHAI, JJ. Writ Petn. © No. 715 of 1990,

Summary - Imams spend substantial time in the mosques. Their most important duty

is that of leading community prayer in a mosque the very purpose for which a

mosque is created. Imams, 'incharge of religious activities of the mosque' have

approached the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution for

enforcement of fundamental right against their exploitation by Wakf Boards.

They seek a direction to Central and State Wakf Boards to treat the petitioner

as employees of the Board and to pay them base wages to enable them to survive.

The Wakf Board says Imams are not their employees - do not have the resources to

pay them. The right to life enshrined in Art. 21 means right to live with human

dignity. In the above circumstances the Supreme Court issued the directions to

the Union of India and the Central Wakf Board to prepare a Scheme within a

period of six months in respect of different types of mosques.

I have not been able to obtain details of the scheme offered by the Govt and

subsequent action taken thereon. In case you know about it please write to

Friends some thoughts. If India is a secular state and being secular means

separation of state from religion then why must the Courts direct the

Government to pay salaries to Imams? Some of you might argue that temple

priests in Tamil Nadu and perhaps states like Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh get

salaries from the state government so what is wrong in paying salaries to

Imams. There is a key difference. Temple collections go to state government

coffers unlike mosque collections, which go to the Wakf Board or are part of

the mosque funds. In a recent article titled "Nationalization of Hindu Temples"

Sandhya Jain wrote. " In 2002, Karnataka received Rs. 72 crores as revenue,

returned Rs. 10 crores for temple maintenance, and granted Rs. 50 crores for

madrasas and Rs. 10 crores for churches'. (Daily Pioneer, October 7,2003.)

See you at the site.

Share the Wealth, cheers om, sanjeev

www.esamskriti.com is for Those who are Passionate about IndiaTo mail

- exploreindia (AT) vsnl (DOT) net, to Un write back.esamskriti has over 160

articles, 800 pictures & a Music GalleryLong Live Sanatan / Kshatriya Dharam.

Generate Positive Vibrations lifelong worldwide.

Recommended Posts