SC gives SGPC two weeks to reply on Sehajdhari row
Legal Correspondent
New Delhi, July 26
The Supreme Court today granted two weeks’ time to the Shiromani
Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to respond to the contentions of
the Sehajdhari Sikh Federation (SSF) that the Sikh temporal body had no
right to appeal on the Sehajdharis’ voting rights issue.
A Bench
comprising Justices RM Lodha and Anil Dave adjourned the hearing, slated
for today, as the SGPC sought time to file its reply.
In its
affidavit, the SSF has contended that the Punjab and Haryana High Court
verdict restoring the Sehajdharis’ voting right had attained finality as
the Union Government had decided against challenging the HC judgment.
Further,
the SGPC election held on September 18, 2011 had become a nullity as
the SC had allowed the conduct of the poll with a clear rider that the
election result would be subject to the HC verdict.
Since the HC
had quashed the Centre’s October 8, 2003, notification that had taken
away the Sehajdharis’ voting rights, it was only proper that a fresh
poll was conducted to elect the SGPC, the federation contended.
The
SSF pointed out that the SC had refused to allow the newly elected SGPC
Board to function and allowed only an ad hoc executive body consisting
of members from the previous Board to manage the day-to-day affairs of
the SGPC and the institutions run by it.
With no properly elected
SGPC in place, no one claiming to be the SGPC could have moved the SC,
challenging the HC verdict, SSF said.
Sehajdharis’ argument :
with thanks : TRIBUNE : LINK : for detailed news
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