The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the Constitutional validity of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Act 2014 under which a separate committee was formed to manage the affairs of gurdwaras in the State.
The decision has not gone down well with the Sikh community. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal described the verdict as an attack on the “panth” and said that it had caused deep resentment among the community worldwide.
A bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Vikram Nath dismissed the plea filed by a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) seeking quashing of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Act 2014.
The top court’s judgment came on a 2014 plea filed by Harbhajan Singh, a resident of Haryana, who contended that Section 72 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966 says the power to make law in respect of the SGPC as an inter-State body corporate has been reserved with the Central Government only and there is no provision in law for any bifurcation by enacting a State legislation.
The petition had said the hasty enactment during the UPA regime is not only against the Constitutional provisions and the statutory provisions of Punjab Reorganisation Act but is also divisive in its intention to create dissension among followers of Sikh religion.
Under the law, Haryana cannot legislate in respect of a subject where the field is already occupied by Central legislation as the subject of religious institutions correlates to Entry 28 List III. The strict provisions with regard to inter-State body corporate under the law have not been complied with.
Addressing the media in Chandigarh, the SAD president said it was extremely unfortunate that the SGPC, an inter-state body, had been bifurcated by recognising a State legislation even though the power to make law on this issue was reserved with the Centre.
Badal said the Congress had been trying for decades to weaken the SAD as well as Sikh institutions and the 2014 Act forming a separate body to manage gurdwaras in Haryana was part of this strategy.
“The last nail was hammered in by the Bhagwant Singh Mann Government whose Advocate General gave a written submission against the SGPC in the case,” he said. He appealed to all “panthic” bodies to unite “to defeat the designs of anti-Sikh forces to divide the Sikh community and rule by proxy”.