SC setback for Sehejdharis: SGPC can elect office bearers

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.

The SGPC was finding it tough to manage it day-to-day affairs without the office bearers,who decide on the policy matters.

“After the election of office bearers,the budget part has to be taken care of,” said SGPC secretary Dalmegh Singh,who had moved a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in Supreme Court challenging the High Court decision and pleading that the functioning of the SGPC had been affected as it was not being allowed to elect office bearers even months after the elections.

Notably,the Sehajdhari Sikh Party (SSP) has filed another petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking appointment of administrator for the SGPC till fresh elections are held for the Sikh body,which SSP believed had gone “defunct” after the HC restored the voting right to Sehajdhari Sikhs.

The SSP wanted fresh polls for the SGPC by including the Sehajdhari Sikhs as voters. The High Court had earlier allowed the SGPC polls to be held provisionally subject to the outcome of the petition that challenged the 2003 notification.