SC clears decks for SGPC polls

The Supreme Court on Friday gave the green signal for the holding of Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee elections in Punjab on September 18.

The Supreme Court on Friday gave the green signal for the holding of Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) elections in Punjab on September 18.

The court said the results of elections would,however,be subject to the final outcome of the case pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court vis-a-vis denial of voting rights to Sehjdhari Sikhs.

A bench of Justices JM Panchal and HL Gokhale said the Punjab and Haryana High Court,if it decides to do so,shall hear and pronounce a final order on the sects voting rights within a month.

On September 1,the High Court had held the Sehajdhari Sikhs challenge to be infructuous after central government counsel,Harbaghwan Singh,assured the court that the 2003 notification had been withdrawn.

But shortly after,Home Minister P Chidambaram told the Parliament that the notification had not been withdrawn and there was no decision taken by the ministry to this effect.

On September 9,the high court bench went on to suspend the earlier order following a recall application filed by the central government. This effectively meant that the October 2003 notification continued to be effective.

The Sehjdharis had then approached the SC against the high court order dated September 9. The issue had led to a major controversy in Punjab politics and the Sikh community.

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