‘Why don’t we pay clerics?’, priests protest at Delhi CM Kejriwal’s residence
Priests have sat on a dharna outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Their demand is that when clerics can be paid, why not them? Thousands of priests protested in front of CM Kejriwal’s house on Tuesday regarding this demand. In this, the people of BJP priest cell were also included. The priests said that until the Delhi government does not give salary to the priests and does not work for the protection of Sanatan Dharma, the protest will continue like this. In fact, the issue of salary of Imams and Muezzins in the mosques of Delhi has come up earlier also. Earlier, during the MCD elections held in Delhi, BJP had made this an issue. Then, along with the clerics, there was a demand to pay monthly salary to the priests of the temples and the granthis of the gurudwara.
Let us inform that 225 imams and muezzins of 185 registered mosques of Delhi Waqf Board are paid salaries. 18 thousand rupees are given to the Imam and 14 thousand rupees to the muezzins every month. Apart from this, the Imams of unregistered mosques in the Delhi Waqf Board get an honorarium of Rs 14,000 and the Muazzins also get Rs 12,000 per month.
Actually, the salary of the Imams of the mosque goes through the Waqf Board. In 1993, the Supreme Court, while hearing the petition of Maulana Jameel Ilyasi, president of the All India Imam Organization, directed the Waqf Board to pay salaries to the Imams in the mosques managed by it. The Waqf Board gives salary to the Imam of mosques in Delhi, Haryana and Karnataka. In many states, the Waqf Board was paying salaries to the Imams of some mosques long back.
