CHANDIGARH—The Supreme Court of India has fixed August 13 for further hearing on the petition challenging legitimacy of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhik Committee (HSGPC). Notably, an SGPC member from Kurkshetra had challenged the HSGPC’s legitimacy by moving a petition in the Supreme Court of India in 2014.
Sharing the development with media, the HSGPC’s General Secretary Joga Singh expressed astonishment over the Supreme Court’s delay in concluding this petition. He said that four Chief Justices of Supreme Court got retirement from their services while conducting hearing on this plea. “The serving Chief Justice Dipak Misra will also get retirement during next few weeks. We will appeal the Supreme Court during next hearing to conclude the case at the earliest” he added.
The HSGPC was constituted by the Bhupinder Singh Hooda led Congress government of Haryana on July 11, 2014. Before the constitution of the HSGPC, all Gurdwaras and SGPC institutions in the state were under control of SGPC, which has headquarters in Sri Amritsar Sahib. The SGPC claimed that the HSGPC formation was unconstitutional, as per the All India Gurdwara Act of 1925.
SGPC has since challenged the HSGPC’s existence by moving a petition in the court. The SGPC had also refused to return keys to various Gurdwaras in Haryana, to the HSGPC, even though it was given legal status by the Haryana government.
Sikhs have to unite and form one Association to control all the historic gurudwara’s all over India only then we may get on a path to survive the onslaught of all the negative internal or external forces and save our religion from extinction.