Haryana Cabinet which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday accorded approval to a proposal for formulation of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (Delimitation of wards and elections), Rules, 2023.

An official spokesperson said the tenure of said Adhoc Committee constituted to manage and supervise the affairs of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee is going to expire after 18 months. Accordingly, it is necessary to hold elections of Gurdwara in Haryana to elect members of Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and for that purpose, ibid Rules are required to be enacted.

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He said in order to provide better autonomous management and effective supervision of Sikh Gurdwaras and Gurdwara properties in the State of Haryana, the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Act, 2014 (for brevity the Act) was enacted by the state vide notification dated 14 July, 2014.

The Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Act, 2014 was challenged by way of filing of Writ Petition (Civil) No. 735 of 2014 before the Supreme Court. In the said petition, the Supreme Court vide order dated 7 August, 2014 directed that the status quo with regard to subject Gurdwaras must be maintained by all concerned.

“In the light of said directions, the Adhoc Committee continued beyond the period of its limitation of 18 months as provided under sub-section (8) of Section 16 of the said Act. Later, on 20 September, 2022 the said Writ Petition was finally dismissed by the Supreme Court,” the spokesperson said.

As the requisite rules, stipulated under Section 52 of the Act for conducting the Gurdwara Elections in Haryana were not formulated so as to elect the members from various wards. “Hence, after carrying out amendment in clause (8) of Section 16 of the Act an Adhoc Committee was constituted to manage and supervise the affairs of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee till a new Committee as stipulated under Sections 3 and 4 of the Act is not constituted by holding elections,” the spokesperson said.