The Tribune – SGPC faces a crisis never seen before

The mini-parliament of Sikhs has an executive to pass budget, but no House in place to approve it

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 2. The SGPC, known as the mini-parliament of Sikhs, is passing through an unprecedented crisis in its 92-year history as today it has an executive to pass the budget, but no General House to put a stamp of approval on it.

A day before the SGPC executive meeting, the SGPC has taken a U-turn and stated that its annual budget will be passed by only the executive and will not be placed before the General House for its approval, as it was claiming earlier. This has raised a big question as to whether merely passing of the budget by the executive can bring it into force.

What has led to the crisis

The crisis in which the SGPC finds today has its roots in the Punjab and Haryana High Court order dated December 20, 2011, in which the court quashed a 2003 Central notification denying Sehajdhari Sikhs the right to vote in the SGPC elections. The HC verdict came three days after the new SGPC House was notified by the Union government on December 17, 2011. Prior to it, the Supreme Court had made it clear that the results of the SGPC elections held on September 18, 2011 would be subject to the HC verdict on the voting rights to the Sehajdharis. Subsequently, the Centre did not convene the SGPC session to elect its office-bearers.

As per the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, the office-bearers are to be elected within a month of the House being notified. The SGPC then moved the SC which allowed the new SGPC House to function on February 17. However, even after the SC verdict, the Centre did not hold the SGPC session. The SGPC moved the apex court again on March 20, seeking a clarification on its February 17 verdict after the Centre attributed the delay in holding the SGPC session to the legal tangle over the Sehajdhari row and dubbed the February 17 SC order as “ambiguous”.

Hearing the SGPC petition on March 30, the SC allowed the old SGPC executive (elected in November 2010) to manage gurdwaras and institutions under the SGPC till further orders. The executive committee of the SGPC is elected in November every year and the 2010 executive was the last panel elected in the old House. Therefore, the SC gave the powers to it while stating that the House elected in September 2011 without Sehajdhari Sikhs’ participation could not be allowed to hold its first meeting and elect office-bearers in the light of the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict that restored the voting rights of Sehajdharis. As a result, the new House of the SGPC cannot function now till further orders of the SC.

What will happen to the budget

As per the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, the executive committee needs to place the annual budget before the General House and it shall be in the discretion of the House “to pass or reject such estimate or to modify or alter it and to pass it as so modified or altered”.

What legal experts have to say

Legal experts say the executive has no power to bring the budget into force without the nod of the House. Punjab and Haryana High Court lawyer Balwant Singh Guliani said the executive committee could merely run day-to-day affairs of the SGPC. “If the executive had the powers to pass the annual budget on its own what was the need to call a meeting of the General House before March 31 every year in the past? Also if the new House is under the scanner how can it be allowed to chalk out the future plans?” he said. Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission Chairman MS Brar also stated that the executive had no powers to pass the budget on its own. Even major expenses could be passed by it subject to the approval of the General House, he added.

What SGPC president Makkar has to say

SGPC chief Avtar Singh MakkarSGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar said they would discuss and approve the budget proposals in tomorrow’s executive meeting. Regarding the approval of the General House, he said they were seeking a legal opinion in this regard. Earlier, the SGPC had stated that it would place the budget before the new SGPC House for approval after getting it passed by the executive. Sources said the annual budget of the SGPC was estimated to be around Rs 600 crore as compared to last year’s figure of around Rs 580 crore.

Sehajdharis say SC order being misread

Sehajdhari Sikh Federation president Dr PS Ranu said those at the helm of affairs in the SGPC were still misinterpreting the Supreme Court order and were misleading the public. Reacting to Makkar’s statement that the new House shall pass the budget, he said the court had never given any such directions. “The new House can start functioning only when the Central Government issues a notification for holding its first meeting under Section 54 of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925. Any such meeting held against the orders of the court shall tantamount to contempt of the apex court.”

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120403/punjab.htm#1

The Tribune – Supreme Court: 2010 executive panel to run SGPC; New board in limbo; Makkar hails order

R Sedhuraman & Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Amritsar, March 30. Putting the newly elected Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC) board in limbo, the Supreme Court today allowed the executive committee constituted in November 2010 with Avtar Singh Makkar as its president to manage gurdwaras and institutions under the SGPC till further orders.

SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar has welcomed the judgment. He said it would bring back on the track the SGPC affairs that had been adversely affected due to delay in holding elections of the board office-bearers.

Passing the order, a Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices RM Lodha and HL Gokhale observed that the board elected in September 2011 without Sehajdhari Sikhs’ participation could not be allowed to hold its first meeting and elect office-bearers in the light of the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict restoring the voting rights of Sehajdharis.

The Sehajdhari Sikh Federation (SSF) headed by Dr PS Ranu had come to the apex court opposing the SGPC poll.

The apex court, on September 20, 2011, allowed the holding of the election, clarifying that the results would be subject to the HC verdict on the voting rights to the Sehajdharis.

The HC delivered its judgment on December 20, 2011, quashing the October 8, 2003, notification of the Central Government that disenfranchised the Sehajdharis. The HC, however, did not clarify the status of the newly elected SGPC board.

In view of the HC verdict and the SC order, the Centre was reluctant to convene the first meeting of the new SGPC board and came to the SC seeking its clarification despite notifying the board on December 17, 2011.

The SGPC also approached the apex court, seeking a direction to the Centre to convene the first meeting of the new board, thereby facilitating election of its office-bearers.

The SGPC had contended that unless the executive committee was put in place immediately, the functioning of 111 colleges, schools, hospitals and 78 gurdwaras run by it would come to a grinding halt as the 2012-13 budget had to be passed before the April 1 deadline.

During the arguments today, the Bench acknowledged that the “very legality of the new board has become suspect and the election has been rendered bad in law” in the light of the HC verdict and the September 2011 SC order.

In Amritsar

The police foiled a bid by 31 members of the SGPC House of 2004 to hold a budget meeting in Amritsar

Members gathered at SAD (1920) senior vice-president Raghubir Singh Rajasansi’s house, but the police didn’t allow them to to leave the place

Later, a resolution was passed on the lines of the SC verdict

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120331/main2.htm

The Tribune – SGPC heading towards a crisis?

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 10. With the newly elected SGPC House caught in legal tangle over the Sehajdhari issue, the premier Sikh body seems to be heading towards a crisis and may find it difficult to pass its annual budget in March.

The annual budget of the SGPC has to be passed by its executive as well as the General House before March 31. The SGPC needs to issue notices to its members informing them about the Budget Session 21 days in advance after getting it passed from the executive. However, the executive of the newly elected SGPC House is yet to be formed.

This means the SGPC has now less than a month left to get its executive in place and the annual budget passed by it. The executive is formed alongside the election of the new office-bearers, a process which is getting delayed due to the ongoing legal process over the Sehajdhari row.

Though the SGPC election process got completed with the issuance of a notification of the new SGPC House on December 16, following the elections on September 18 and co-option on December 5, the Union government hasn’t given a green signal to the SGPC session for electing its new office-bearers.

As per the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, the elections of the new office-bearers should be held within a month of the notification of the new House. Going by the norm, the meeting of the new House to elect the office-bearers should have been called by January 15.

SGPC secretary Dalmegh Singh said they were in a tight spot as the time for the budget session was fast approaching. However, he clarified they had set the ball rolling as far as the preparation of the annual SGPC budget was concerned. He hoped they would get some respite from either the court or the government to facilitate smooth passage of the budget.

Dalmegh Singh said apart from the budget, they were also finding it difficult to run their day-to-day affairs due to the delay in the election of the new SGPC team. “We are managing the work by keeping the nod for various expenses pending. For instance, we have already organised Jor Mela at Fatehgarh Sahib and Maghi Mela at Muktsar Sahib in the absence of necessary sanction for expenditure made in holding these events and now we may have to do the same on Baisakhi if the new SGPC team is not elected by then,” he said.

According to him, the SGPC president has the powers to sanction a maximum of Rs 25,000 and any amount above it has to be sanctioned by the SGPC executive.

Noted lawyer H S Phoolka said the court had not quashed the recent SGPC elections and, therefore, the Centre could call a session of the new SGPC House to elect its office-bearers.

However, former Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission chairman Kashmir Singh Patti said the SGPC could not pass the annual budget in the current scenario.

Legal Tangle

- The newly elected SGPC House is caught in a legal tangle over the Sehajdhari issue

- The case is delaying the formation of the executive body of the SGPC House

- The delay also may affect the SGPC budget, which has to be passed by its executive as well as General House before March 31

- After getting it passed, the SGPC needs to issue notices to its members informing them about the budget session 21 days in advance

- This means the SGPC now has less than a month left to get its executive in place and get the budget passed

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120211/punjab.htm#5