SGPC resolution rejects SC verdict

Amritsar: The executive committee (EC) of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Friday adopted a resolution rejecting the Supreme Court judgment upholding the validity of Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Act, 2014. At a meeting held at Kalgidhar Niwas in Chandigarh, the EC stated that the Gurdwara Act passed by a state government could not affect the jurisdiction of SGPC “since the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925 was in force”.
In a release issued here on Friday, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Harjinder Singh Dhami said the committee had decided to file a review petition on the judgment.
A special meeting of all SGPC members has been called in Amritsar on September 30 to discuss the future course of action.
Dhami claimed only the Union government had the right to make any amendment in the 1925 Act and that too with the approval of the SGPC general house. “State governments cannot curtail the jurisdiction of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, as the amendment conduct is determined. From time to time, governments have adopted tactics to weaken Sikh power and interfere in SGPC affairs, but they never succeeded before the Panth’s unity,” said Dhami.