CHANDIGARH, Punjab—The Supreme Court is set to hear a petition questioning the legitimacy of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhik Committee. An SGPC member Harbhajan Singh (Kurkshetra) had moved a petition challenging legitimacy of the HSGPC in 2014 after it was declared a legal body by the then Hooda Government in Haryana.
Speaking to Sikh24 on September 4, the General Secretary of Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhik Committee (Ad-hoc) Jora Singh informed members of the HSGPC will be present during the Supreme Court hearing. He was confident that this will be last hearing of the case and the HSGPC will be declared legitimate by the Supreme Court.
HSGPC was constituted by the Bhupinder Singh Hooda led Congress government of Haryana on July 11, 2014. Before the constitution of the HSGPC, all the Gurdwaras and SGPC institutions in the state were handled by the SGPC, which has headquarters in Sri Amritsar Sahib.
The SGPC claimed that the HSGPC’s formation was unconstitutional, as per the All India Gurdwara Act of 1925. It 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.
