E-Paper
HC notice to SGPC, gurdwara poll body on plea over exclusion of Haryana constituencies
The representation of Haryana in the SGPC remains a bone of contention in view of the fact that the Supreme Court had upheld the validity of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Act 2014, a separate committee constituted for Haryana gurdwaras, last year. Haryana, however, continues to have stakes in the SGPC with its general house having 11 members from the state.
The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Wednesday issued notice to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and the gurdwara election commission on a petition seeking quashing of the Sikh body’s general house elections, stating that constituencies in Haryana have been excluded from the poll process.
The bench of justice Vinod S Bhardwaj issued notice for December 2, while taking up petition filed by Baldev Singh, 74, of Yamunanagar and Gurdeep Singh, 63, from Ambala. The petitioners, who are elected members of the SGPC house, which is a statutory body governed by the Sikh Gurdwaras Act 1925, are aggrieved by the exclusion of their notified constituency from the election process.
The representation of Haryana in the SGPC remains a bone of contention in view of the fact that the Supreme Court had upheld the validity of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Act 2014, a separate committee constituted for Haryana gurdwaras, last year. Haryana, however, continues to have stakes in the SGPC with its general house having 11 members from the state.
The petitioners alleged that constituencies in Haryana, including Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal, Hissar, Sirsa and Dabwali, have been excluded from the preparation of electoral roll, and sought that the election process be stayed till the pendency of the petition. They alleged that the election process has been initiated only in Punjab, Chandigarh and Himanchal Pradesh, which is in contravention of the Gurdwaras Act.
The petitioners have sought the quashing of impugned election process, initiated vide letter dated May 25, and also prayed for quashing of the letter dated October 4 and October 20, regarding preparation of electoral roll without the inclusion of Haryana constituencies.
