The Tribune – Sehajdharis can vote in SGPC polls, says HC

Court quashes 2003 Central notification denying these Sikhs their ‘legal right’

Saurabh Malik, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 20. In a major decision before the Assembly elections, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today made it clear that the Sehajdhari Sikhs can exercise their franchise, by quashing a notification denying them their right to vote in the Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee polls.

The high court ruled: “The right to vote granted through Sections 49 & 92 of the 1925 Sikh Gurdwara Act to the eligible persons, which incidentally includes Sehajdhari Sikhs also, in our considered view, being legislature’s own decision, cannot be seen through religious spectacle…

“The original records though do not lend support to the vague allegations of mala fide or colourable exercise of power etc., yet lead to an irresistible inference that the exercise undertaken by the Central Government was misdirected and misconceived”.

The significant direction by a Full Bench of the High Court came more than eight years after the notification was issued by the Central Government, when the BJP was at the helm of affairs in Delhi.

One of the petitions challenging the October 8, 2003, notification was filed by the Sehajdhari Sikh Federation in the same year. Since then, the elections to the SGPC have been held twice; both subject to the decision on the writ petitions.

The development is significant as the Akali Dal’s hold on the SGPC, managing the gurdwaras in the state, may eventually loosen once the Sehajdharis vote.

As of now it is not clear whether the House elected just about three months ago without the participation of the Sehajdhari Sikhs will remain or go. The issue was raised before the Full Bench of Justice Surya Kant, Justice M. Jeyapaul and Justice M.M.S. Bedi soon after the pronouncement of the judgment in a jam-packed courtroom.

One of the counsels asked the Bench to clarify whether the elections would now be null and void, as even the Supreme Court had ruled it would be subject to the decision on the petitions. Speaking for the Bench, Justice Surya Kant asserted the election was not the issue before the Full Bench. “The law will take its own course,” Justice Surya Kant asserted in the open court.

In its detailed order running into 128 pages, the Bench asserted: “That only those who have attained purity and are known as Amritdhari Sikhs, are solely entitled to be elected as members of the board or the committees, or that a novice Sikh like a Sehajdhari, who may or may not be a Keshadhari Sikh but has adopted the doctrines, ethics and tenets of Sikhism shall also be an eligible elector with a right to vote under Section 50 of the Act, too is a crystallised legislative policy built into the 1925 Act”.

The Bench minced no words to hold the right to vote conferred on a class or category of people, subject to their possessing the requisite qualifications, is an integral part of the legislative policy of the 1925 Act. “It being a valuable legal right, cannot be taken away except by the competent legislature itself….

“The right to vote conferred by a statute is indubitably a legal right only and it can be taken away by the legislature at will…. Nothing precludes the legislature to re-write the eligibility conditions for the electors so as to include or exclude a class or category of people…”

The Bench concluded the “notification does not throw any light on the legal necessity for its issuance, namely, the functioning or operation….

“The notification dated October 8, 2003 is, hereby, quashed”. The Bench left it for the “appropriate and competent legislature” to decide as to whether any amendment in the provisions of the Gurdwara Act was to be carried out”.

Before parting with the orders, the Bench held: “We have not held that any particular class or category of Sikhs has a birth-right to participate in the election for the members of the board or the committees constituted under the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925. We clarify that the issues raised or decided by us are purely legal in nature….”

The judgment has merely quashed the notification giving voting rights to Sehajdhari Sikhs. The court should have clarified on the recent SGPC elections as well. I have spoken with some Supreme Court lawyers, who say the new House is valid despite the order.
— Avtar Singh Makkar, SGPC Chief

The high court order will have no impact on the new SGPC House. The current House will continue to function until the court specifically quashes notifications for holding elections and constituting the new House.
— HS Phoolka, noted lawyer

The SAD and the Badals stand exposed. My stand that the move was a deliberate mischief on the part of the Akalis to capture power and misuse SGPC funds stands vindicated. The judgment will help prevent the misuse of power that led to denial of voting rights to about 65 lakh Sehajdhari and others Sikhs.
— Captain Amarinder Singh, PPCC chief

The verdict has caused concern in SAD, but there seems to be a difference of opinion on its outcome. We will, however, seek appropriate legal remedy after going through the order.
— Daljeet Singh Cheema, SAD secretary

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111221/main1.htm

The Tribune – Defining Sehajdhari Sikh the next big task

Prabhjot Singh, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 20 By setting aside the Union Home Ministry’s 2003 notification debarring Sehajdhari Sikhs from voting in the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) general election, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has restored a right that the community members had been enjoying since the inception of the institution 86 years ago.

Now, another issue that needs to be resolved is the definition of a “Sehajdhari Sikh” that may have to be incorporated in the proposed All-India Sikh Gurdwaras Act.

It was only in the last two SGPC elections (in 2004 and 2011) that the Sehajdhari Sikhs stood alienated from electing members to the body that has come to be known as “Mini Parliament” of Sikhs.

The term Sehajdhari Sikh finds no mention in the subsequent Acts approved for the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act or the Acts that govern Takhts at Hazur Sahib (Nanded) or Patna Sahib; it was incorporated in 1959 in the original Gurdwara Act, 1925, by including Section 2(10-A).

The issue is being debated since the 1930s with the Sikhs divided over whether or not to include the Sehajdharis as SGPC electorate. And the only time a “Sehajdhari Sikh” got elected to the SGPC house was in 1939 when Bhai Khushi Ram won from Multan. Initially, those who were born in non-Sikh families but subsequently took to Sikhism came to be known as Sehajdharis. Their count used to be large earlier as there was a general practice among the Khatri or Arora Hindu families to make their eldest son embrace Sikhism.

But post-Partition in general and after the re-organisation of Punjab in 1966 in particular, their count started dwindling. From thousands in the 1940s, the Sehajdharis’ count came down to a few hundred in the early 1970s when the issue of debarring them from voting figured in the SGPC general house.

However, the eruption of secessionist violence in the late 1980s put the issue into cold storage before it was revived towards the end of the century. A resolution adopted by the general house subsequently got endorsement of the NDA government at the Centre, thus depriving the Sehajdharis the right to vote in the 2004 general house elections.

The notification issued in 2003 was immediately challenged. But in the absence of a uniform and acceptable definition of a “Sehajdhari Sikh”, the issue could not be resolved. During the first 12 (of the total 14) SGPC elections, the “Sehajdhari Sikhs” exercised their franchise.

The word “Sehajdhari” finds no mention either in any of the Sikh granths or even the Sikh Rehat Maryada. In 2008, when the issue of defining a Sikh was taken up by the Constitution Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Gurleen Kaur vs SGPC case, the term Sehajdhari figured nowhere though references were made to “Amritdhari” (baptised) Sikhs, non-baptised Sikhs and “Patit” Sikhs (those who have shorn or plucked hair).

The Bench then concluded that only those who maintain “Sikhi swarup” and follow the Sikh Gurus, Guru Granth Sahib and do not believe in any other religion or faith can be considered as Sikhs.

At the time of Gurleen Kaur case, the SGPC had submitted an affidavit defining a “Sehajdhari” Sikh. It was, however, withdrawn later following objections from various quarters. While “Sehajdharis” maintain that they follow Sikh tenets, they did not agree to the definition of the SGPC that believed that “sehaj” (slowly) “dhari” (adoption) was for those who slowly moved on the path of Sikhism.

Another difference of opinion between Sehajdharis and the SGPC had been over “Patit” Sikhs. Some believe that those who deviate from the “rehat” after getting “baptised” were Patits. The Sehajdharis, however, are of the belief that any non-baptised Sikh who cuts or plucks hair was a Patit.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111221/punjab.htm#3

The Asian Age – ‘I will fight for Lokpal Bill’: Sonia

New Delhi, 21 December 2011. Asserting that she will fight for the passage of the Lokpal bill in Parliament, a combative Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at the Opposition for ‘obstructionist’ tactics and Team Anna for ‘deliberate and malicious’ criticism of the Government.

“We are being criticised and attacked for not tackling the scourge of corruption. This is deliberate and malicious misinformation,” Gandhi told the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meeting without referring to Team Anna or Anna Hazare, who has threatened to go on a fast from December 27 over the Lokpal issue.

“I will fight for Lokpal and women’s reservation issue”, she told reporters close on the heels of telling the Parliamentary Party, “I cannot see any reason for us to be defeatist”.

She said that to tackle the issue of corruption, three bills with major implications are to be passed soon – those relating to the protection of whistle blowers, enhancing judicial accountability, strengthening anti-money laundering operations and controlling bribery of Indian public officials by foreign companies. (IANS)

http://www.asianage.com/india/i-will-fight-lokpal-bill-sonia-770
   

November visit to UK 14/11 till 21/11; many pictures of trains !

16/11 – I visited my ex-colleagues of the Slough Equalities Council and took two pictures of the new busstation

16/11 - Bus 81 serving Slough, Colnbrook, Longford, Heathrow, Hounslow West and Hounslow Bus Station

16/11 – Man in Blue, working away on his laptop

16/11 – King Street seen from The Green

To see more UK public transport pictures go to :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157611244941713/
 

More UK pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh  
Man in Blue

The Tribune – Ludhiana coldest in region at 2.7 degrees Celcius

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 20 Ludhiana emerged as the coldest place in the region as the minimum temperature plummeted to 2.7 degrees Celsius.

Dense fog conditions also prevailed in some parts of the Punjab and Haryana states reducing the visibility to 200 meters or less.

In Haryana, there was a noticeable improvement in the night temperature in Rohtak district, which was recorded at 4 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature on Sunday was recorded at 1.6 degrees Celsius at Rohtak and Hisar.

The Met officials said that cold day conditions would prevail in some parts of the State and likely to continue during next 48 hours. Weather has been dry in the State.

The minimum temperature recorded in Manali in Himachal Pradesh was at 1.6 degrees Celsius, while in Jammu and Kashmir it was -3 degree Celsius in Srinagar.

The weather officials said that the night temperature in the state of Punjab increased noticeably and was normal.

The sky would remain cloudy in various parts of Punjab and Haryana with fog or mist occurring in the two states.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111221/punjab.htm#18

Dawn – Pakistan drives railways towards ruin

21 December 2011

Rawalpindi: For 44 years, Jaffer Hussain has worked as a porter, hauling luggage around bustling platforms in exchange for handsome tips. But these days, he just sits and waits.

“I’ve been working here since 1967. I’ve seen the boom of railways. Now it’s a dead department,” he told AFP, despondent without a single customer for a train heading on the 30-hour journey south to Karachi.

Corruption, mismanagement and neglect have driven Pakistan Railways to the brink.

Haulage and passenger services have been slashed and an urgent rescue is called for to save a much-loved legacy of British rule from the scrap heap.

When Britain closed the curtain on its empire and Pakistan was born in 1947, the country inherited thousands of miles of track and trains provided the most popular and affordable transport for millions.

But as Pakistan has spluttered from crisis to crisis, tarnished by corruption, straining under the near doubling of fuel prices in five years and the expansion of domestic flights, the decline has quickened.

Since the current government took power in 2008, the railway has retired 104 of 204 trains in a country larger than Britain and Germany combined.

State-owned, it relies on handouts of 2.5 billion rupees ($2.8 million) a month just to pay salaries and pensions; and faces expected losses of 35 billion rupees ($390 million) in fiscal year July 2011 to June 2012.

In October there was uproar when a retired train driver died outside a bank after waiting three days for his pension.

Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour has no illusions about the situation.

“The state of railways is very bad,” he told AFP. “It can never become a profitable organisation, if we reduce its deficit, it would be an achievement.”

He blames previous governments for decades of failure to invest, but recognises that the current administration is just as guilty.

The cabinet approved emergency funding of $125 million for the railways in January but it has yet to be released by the finance ministry, Bilour said.

He says the ministry requested 300 new engines to return to normal operations “but they did not give us a single penny”.

“We got 69 locomotives in 2004 from China but we did not sign an agreement to get spare parts and the engines started breaking down,” said the minister.

Flying from Islamabad to Karachi takes two hours and a network of luxury coaches is considered more comfortable, which means that today only the poorest of Pakistan’s 174 million travel by train.

“There is corruption and mismanagement at every level,” said former railways minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.

“The workers don’t work, mechanics don’t change the oil and the officials wait for destruction of the machinery to buy new and get commissions.”

But the government is now trying to stave off total ruin. It has released a 600-million-rupee subsidy to repair engines and the board is hoping the private sector can become its knight in shining armour.

“We have devised a strategy to rehabilitate 360 locomotives with the help of the private sector and bring all of them back to working condition in the next three years,” Shafiq Ullah, the secretary of the Pakistan Railways board, told AFP.

“By August, we will get all these 69 Chinese locomotives on the track,”said, adding that only six freight trains are operational —a fraction of the 100 goods trains that once used to run.

Independent analysts estimate it will take at least five years and millions of dollars to haul the infrastructure into the 21st century.

“Constant neglect has led Pakistan Railways into such bad shape,” A. B. Shahid, an economy expert and former banker, told AFP.

“They need at least three to five years to revive the department, and inject at least 25 billion rupees, for infrastructure and repairing locomotives. They should privatise local trains and improve signalling,” he said.

Saqib Shirani, a former adviser to the finance ministry, said the government should remove interest from central bank loans and end political appointments.

“It shouldn’t be fully privatised but investment in a few sectors like goods trains and some passenger trains will be really fruitful,” he said.

But 60-year-old Hussain, despondent in the deserted station at Rawalpindi, fears none of that will come soon enough.

Desperate to repay a 70,000 rupee ($780) debt for his daughters’ dowries, he waits interminably. When a train eventually splutters into view, the hustle and bustle ends in moments. He feels the debt getting heavier on his shoulders.

“In past, I could earn up to 500 rupees ($5.50) a day, now I hardly earn 150 rupees ($1.60) which I spend on the day’s meal,” he said.

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/21/pakistan-drives-railways-towards-ruin.html