The Imams did not appear before the court today during the hearing. Granting the plea of the advocate appearing on behalf of the Imams, the bench comprising Justices B P Banerjee and Ronajit Mitra in its ruling said the ``Imams are directed to be present before this court on Friday at 10.30 am failing which the court will pass appropriate order for such non-appearance.''

In another development, West Bengal Minister Kalimuddin Sams who was earlier directed to file an affidavit in respect of his statement on July 7 at Shaheed Minar was pulled up by the court for stating that ``in this state the members of the minority community have been obstructed in the matter of performance of the religious rites because of the restriction on the use microphone by the court.'' Sams, who filed his affidavit today in the court, submitted before thejudges that in his speech on July 7, he ``did not make any remark against the hon'ble court'' nor said ``anything regarding functioning of this court.''

However, a paragraph in Sams' affidavit, which expressed doubts about the court's authority ``to decide on the matters relating to the religion and/or connected with religious sentiments,'' was ordered to be expunged from the court records.

Saying that this court in this case... ``had not dealt with matters of religion and/ or connected with religious sentiments,'' the judges firmly told the minister that ``it is not for Mr Sams or any party to advise the court about such matters.''

The bench ruled that ``the said statements in paragraph 4 of the affidavit was uncalled for and unwarranted and made with some definite purpose.'' The court cautioned the minister that ``this type of cheap statement'' was bound to create confusion ``in the minds of innocent people who are minority in the state.''

Asking the the minister's lawyers to withdraw the affidavitand file a fresh one, the judges in their order said: ``...we cannot allow such a damaging statement to remain in the affidavit and we are compelled expunge the same from the court records.''

However, the the bench has decided to drop the proceedings against the minister as he submitted to the court that he had the ``highest respect and regard'' for the judiciary and the judges of the court.