Former SGPC president seeks probe into the termination of over 500 employees

PATIALA: Taking a strong note of the termination of services of over 500 employees, who had been recruited by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) during his tenure, former president of the Gurdwara Apex body Kirpal Singh Badungar has sought a probe by retired or sitting Punjab and Haryana high court judges.
The SGPC on Saturday had terminated the services of its employees after a four-member panel constituted by the incumbent SGPC chief Gobind Singh Longowal to look into norm violations in these appointments, submitted an adverse report. These employees were handed out termination letters and were asked not to report at their place of posting from April 1 onwards.

However, Badungar said he had served the SGPC for over 45 years without a single finger having been raised against his integrity. He expressed an apprehension that the services of employees recruited during his tenure had been terminated to bring a bad name to his services. He said all the appointments in SGPC run institutions were made as per the rules followed by the committee and a probe by High Court judges would bring out the truth.

He said for the last several months, the members of the sub-committee formed to investigate these appointments had been issuing confusing statements that were far from facts. He said all these appointments were made in accordance with the Sikh Gurdwara Act of 1925 and various resolutions passed by the SGPC’s general house from time to time. He said in case the sub-committee had found violations of rules then it needs to be underlined that the panel members were unaware of the resolutions passed by the SGPC’s general house.

He said that he has now requested President of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Sukhbir Singh Badal and the President of SGPC Gobind Singh Longowal to order the probe to bring the facts adding that if found guilty he was ready to any `tankha' (religious punishment) ordered by the Sikh Panth. But, in case, the probe establishes no wrongdoing, then the SGPC should withdraw all termination orders, Badungar said.

Badungar had remained SGPC president from November 5, 2016, to November 29, 2017 after which Gobind Singh Longowal took over the charge of the SGPC and constituted a four-member sub-committee comprising SGPC senior vice-president Raghujit Singh Virk, junior vice-president Harpal Singh Jalla, executive member Sajjan Singh Bajjuman and member Baldev Singh to probe the rule violations in the recruitments made during Badungar’s tenure. The sub-committee in its report concluded violation of the rules and recommended action.