Saturday, February 18, 2012

SC setback for Sehejdharis: SGPC can elect office bearers

The Sehajdharis suffered a major setback on Friday after the Supreme Court stayed an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court wherein it had quashed a central government’s notification (in October, 2003) barring the Sehajdhari Sikhs from voting in the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) elections.
The apex court said that the SGPC, considered the Mini-Parliament of Sikhs, can carry out its functions normally. Days after the High Court judgment, the Sehajdhari Sikh Party (SSP) had demanded fresh SGPC elections stating that the Sehajdharis be allowed to cast their votes.
After the temporary relief from Supreme Court, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said that they would now wait for the Ministry of Home to issue a notification pertaining to the election of the office bearers of SGPC.
“We now look forward to Home Ministry to issue notification for the election of office bearers,” Makkar said.
The SC directions today paved the way for 185-member body to elect its 11 member executive body, besides the president, senior vice-president, vice-president and general secretary.
A question mark over the newly formed SGPC had arisen after the Punjab and Haryana High court had restored the voting rights of Sehajdhari Sikhs quashing the 2003 notification by the Union government that barred Sehajdhari Sikhs from voting in SGPC polls.

with thanks : IndianExpress : link in the headline above for detailed news.

No comments: