Will not allow Haryana committee to take charge of gurdwaras in state: SGPC

Amritsar: President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Pharbandhak Committee (SGPC) Avtar Singh Makkar on Friday said the newly-formed Haryana Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) would not be handed over charge of gurdwaras in the state.

Makkar said the Amritsar-based SGPC, responsible for the upkeep of gurdwaras in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, did not recognise HSGMC recently constituted by the Haryana government.

“Moreover, the newly-elected ad hoc president of HSGMC, Jagdish Singh Jhinda, has been excommunicated by the Akal Takht (highest Sikh temporal seat), and in such circumstances the charge of Haryana-based Sikh shrines could never be handed over to the excommunicated person at any cost,” he said.

He said the SGPC was always bind to obey the directives issued from Akal Takht which has asked to maintain status quo by not handing over the charge to the newly-built HSGMC.

“HSGMC was never recognised by the supreme Sikh religious body Akal Takht as well as Sikh community by and large,” he said, adding that SGPC would never allow Jhinda to check bank accounts of Haryana-based gurdwaras.

Yesterday at Kaithal, the HSGMC executive committee had directed managers of all parbandhak gurudwaras in Haryana to submit details of account books and other records by 2 August. The managers have been directed to submit the records at the HSGPC headquarters in Gurudwara Neem Sahib at Kaithal.

At a four-hour meeting of the committee held at Kaithal, it was decided to proceed against those who do not obey the directive, HSGMC president Jagdish Jhinda had said.

Jhinda said the committee will also write to all managers of banks where accounts of Haryana gurdwaras are maintained, directing them not to entertain any cheques issued by the Amritsar-based SGPC.

PTI