A lawyer has written to the Attorney General of India, R. Venkataramani, seeking his consent to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against an information commissioner for making ‘scandalous’ observations against the Supreme Court.

The letter written by advocate-on-record Aldanish Rein alleges that information commissioner Uday Mahurkar of the Central Information Commission (CIC), in his order dated November 25, made observations that tend to scandalise and lower the authority of the Supreme Court.

The letter to the AG said the information commissioner while dealing with the second appeal in a case made this observation: “Further with regard to the judgment by the Supreme Court in the case between All India Imam Organisation and/vs Union of India and others on May 13, 1993, that opened the doors to special financial benefits from the public treasury to only Imams and Muezzins in the mosques, the commission observes that the highest court of the country in passing this order acted in violation of the provisions of the Constitution, particularly Article 27, which says that the tax-payers money will not be used to favour any particular religion. The commission notes that the said judgment set a wrong precedent in the country and has become a point of unnecessary political slugfest and also social disharmony in the society.”

Rein said the alleged contemnor, who is not even a law graduate to understand the nuances of law, went ahead and observed that the judgment passed by the two judges of the Supreme Court was passed in violation of the Constitution and set a wrong precedent.

Citing other observations in the order, Rein said the language adopted by the information commissioner is not only contemptuous but is also an attempt to disgrace the Muslim community and further spread disharmony among different communities on the strength of the Supreme Court order for some ulterior motives.

“The entire act of the alleged contemnor is a clear attempt to scandalise the Supreme Court and tends to lower the authority of the Supreme Court, therefore it is requested to grant consent in terms of Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, to initiate criminal contempt against the above alleged contemnor,” said the letter.