E-Paper
Sirsa challenges disqualification by gurdwara election body
Manjinder Singh Sirsa has moved the Delhi high court against the decision of the gurdwara election body to disqualify him from being co-opted as a member of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Wednesday moved the Delhi high court against the decision of the gurdwara election body to disqualify him from being co-opted as a member of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee.
The matter is listed for hearing on September 24.
The process of co-option means appointment to the membership of a committee or any other body by the invitation of existing members.
The Directorate of Gurdwara Elections, New Delhi, disqualified Sirsa on the grounds that he is not well-versed with the reading and writing of Gurmukhi as per eligibility conditions for co-option laid down in the DSGMC Act-1971.
“I have challenged the biased orders of the directorate….it is not written anywhere in the (DSGMC) Act that Gurbani has to be recited,” he said. “How can he (director) quantify what is less (knowledge of Gurmukhi) or what is more,” asked Sirsa. He added that 212 candidates contested gurdwara polls (held on August 22) and none of them, except him, were made to take the test. This despite the fact that the directorate had cleared my nominations thrice in the past, said Sirsa..
Sirsa, a former DSGMC president, had lost the August 22 election to Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) candidate Harvinder Singh Sarna. On August 25, when the result of the polls was announced, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal had announced that Sirsa will continue as the DSGMC president.
Sarna had filed a petition in the HC, seeking Sirsa’s disqualification for cooption on the grounds of lack of Gurmukhi knowledge. On September 15, the high court had ordered the directorate to submit a report by September 21.
