Gurdwara election body disqualifies Manjinder Singh Sirsa from being ‘co-opted’ as DSGMC member

On August 25, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said that Sirsa will continue as DSGMC president, and that he will be ‘co-opted’ through the quota of Amritsar-headquartered Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). SAD has majority in SGPC. However, Narinder Singh, the director of gurdwara election, said on Tuesday that Sirsa was not eligible for the post.

Chandigarh: The directorate of gurdwara election, New Delhi, on Tuesday disqualified former Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Manjinder Singh Sirsa from being chosen as a ‘co-opted’ member of DSGMC.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa lost the DSGMC polls held on August 22, to Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) candidate Harvinder Singh Sarna. (PTI)

Sirsa lost the DSGMC polls held on August 22, to Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) candidate Harvinder Singh Sarna.

On August 25, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said that Sirsa will continue as DSGMC president, and that he will be ‘co-opted’ through the quota of Amritsar-headquartered Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). SAD has majority in SGPC.

However, Narinder Singh, the director of gurdwara election, said on Tuesday that Sirsa was not eligible for the post. “The undersigned is constrained to deduce that Manjinder Singh Sirsa is not well versed with reading and writing of Gurmukhi and, therefore, does not qualify the eligibility conditions as laid the section 10 of the (DSGMC) Act,” Narinder Singh said in an order on Tuesday.

Sirsa said he will challenge the orders in the high court. “The director is working against the interest of my party and me,” Sirsa said, adding that he has done BA (Honours) in Punjabi.

“The same directorate has cleared my nominations thrice in the past, and now they say my knowledge of Gurmukhi is limited, which is not acceptable,” he said.

Harvinder Singh Sarna has filed a petition in the Dehi high court, seeking Sirsa’s disqualification on the grounds of the alleged lack of his knowledge in Gurmukhi, the script in which Guru Granth Sahib is written.

On September 5, the high court ordered the directorate to submit a report by September 21. Sirsa appeared before the directorate to take a test in Gurmukhi on September 17. After the appearing for the test, he said that he recited Gurbani, but refused to write because any inadvertent mistake would amount to sacrilege. The court will next hear the matter on October 15.

As per the norms of DSGMC Act 46 elected members of the DSGMC would meet on September 24 again for nomination of two members from among 350 Singh Sabha gurdwaras in the national capital that falls under the jurisdiction of DSGMC. Other than that, four members from the clergy would also be nominated taking the total strength of the house to 55. In the house one member is reserved to be coopted from SGPC.

After Sirsa’s disqualification the directorate has written to the SGPC to send a fresh name for cooption, before September 24.

Meanwhile, two members, SAD (Delhi) president Paramjit Singh Sarna, and Vikram Singh Rohini, belonging to the Badals-led SAD were co-opted in the last meeting on September 9, when Sirsa’s nomination was put on a hold.