A delegation led by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Harjinder Singh Dhami on Thursday met Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit and asked him to nullify the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, passed by the state Assembly. The SGPC chief reiterated that the 1925 Act is a central legislation and can only be amended by the Parliament.
The delegation submitted a memorandum to the governor which termed the Bill “interference by the state government led by chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann.”
“Any changes to the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, is unconstitutional and should not be allowed. Our memorandum to the governor states that it is Parliament’s prerogative (to bring any amendment to the 1925 Act) and the state does not have jurisdiction over this. The governor said he will examine it according to the Constitution,” Dhami said while interacting with media after coming out of Raj Bhavan. The SGPC delegation also included senior vice-president Baldev Singh Qaimpur, junior vice-president Avtar Singh Raya and general secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal.
The Punjab assembly on June 20 had passed the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, to ensure the free-of-cost broadcast of Gurbani from Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) across platforms.
The House passed the amendment in the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925 by inserting Section 125A for ‘Live telecast of Gurbani free-of-cost.
{{/usCountry}}The House passed the amendment in the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925 by inserting Section 125A for ‘Live telecast of Gurbani free-of-cost.
{{/usCountry}}Part-1 of Section 125A reads: “It shall be the duty of the board to propagate the teachings of the Gurus by making uninterrupted (without any on-screen running advertisements or commercials or distortion) live feed (audio or audio as well as video) of holy Gurbani from Harmandar Sahib available free-of-cost to all media houses, outlets, platforms, channels etc, whosoever wishes to broadcast anywhere (including all over the world).”
Part-2 mandates that anyone broadcasting the holy Gurbani from Harmandar Sahib shall not run any advertisement at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the Gurbani broadcast or 30 minutes after it.
Speaking during the debate on the Bill in the Assembly, CM Mann had said no channel should have exclusive rights to broadcast the holy Gurbani. “One channel has the exclusive right to broadcast the holy Gurbani,” Mann had said while referring to the PTC channel. Currently, Gurbani is broadcast from the Sikh shrine by PTC, a private channel often linked to the Badal family.
“This is a direct violation of the constitution as any amendment in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act can be done only by the Centre with the recommendations of the SGPC. The amendment (section 125A) they brought is against the law,” the SGPC chief said.
Replying to another query, he said “question is not of PTC channel. Tomorrow they (govt) will bring more amendments to the (1925) Act”.
Dhami said in the coming days the SGPC will also approach the President and the Union home minister over the matter. Dhami said a special general session of the SGPC would be convened on June 26 to chart out further course of action in the matter.
The SGPC chief reiterated that the state government is going beyond its jurisdiction and complicating Sikh affairs. Alleging that the AAP government is ‘using’ the matter of the Gurbani broadcast for its ‘political interests’, Dhami alleged that the aim of the Mann government is to weaken the SGPC, and said, “The Sikh community will not allow this to happen.”