E-Paper
HC notice on plea seeking exclusion of Haryana constituencies for SGPC polls
The high court bench of acting-chief justice Ritu Bahri and justice Nidhi Gupta took note of a plea from Baldev Singh Sirsa from Amritsar, who has sought directions to quash the notification of April 20, 1996, and the subsequent notification of September 17, 2009, in the light of the enactment of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Act, 2014
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday sought response from Punjab, Centre and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on a plea seeking directions to exclude the constituencies falling in Haryana for the SGPC polls.
The high court bench of acting-chief justice Ritu Bahri and justice Nidhi Gupta took note of a plea from Baldev Singh Sirsa from Amritsar, who has sought directions to quash the notification of April 20, 1996, and the subsequent notification of September 17, 2009, in the light of the enactment of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Act, 2014.
The plea also refers to the Supreme Court judgment in the case of ‘Harbhajan Singh versus State of Haryana’ upholding a separate body for Haryana. The fresh proceedings be initiated to notify constituencies for election of SGPC members in terms of Section 44 of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, in view of the 2014 Act, the plea stated.
The plea says Punjab was reorganised on linguistic basis in 1996, under the provisions of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966. The central government notified 120 constituencies, of which eight are in Haryana and should not be made a part of the SGPC polls, the plea says.
The plea underlines that Section 54 of the 2014 Act provides for saving and over-riding effect of the Act on other laws. Section 54(1) of the 2014 law specifically provides that the provisions of the 1925 Act shall cease to have any application within Haryana, it adds.
The plea further said the process for polls has not been properly initiated till date, hence, the Centre and other authorities ought to modify fresh constituencies.
The tenure of the general house also known as Sikh Parliament, ended in December 2016 and since then elections have not been held. The elections are held every five years. In October, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann announced resumption of voters’ list updating for the polls.
It is to be noted that one more petition seeking directions for a uniform procedure for the registration of voters and preparation of electoral rolls and allowing voters to register online is pending consideration before the court.
