CHANDIGARH: Over eight months after the appointments committee of the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the name of Justice S S Saron, former judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court, as chief commissioner of Gurdwara election commission, the commission has not yet started functioning.
The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) had on October 6 issued the notification of appointing Justice Saron as chief commissioner of gurdwara election commission.
But Justice Saron, who was heading the Punjab government’s revenue commission before his appointment to the gurdwara election commission, still continues to work for the revenue commission from the fourth floor of the Punjab civil secretariat.
Opposition parties in Punjab had been attacking the Congress government in the state for not allotting office space to Justice Saron, stating that the Congress government was intentionally pushing back the already delayed elections to Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).
The last elections to the 170-member SGPC for a five-year term were held in September 2011 in which the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Sant Samaj combine had clinched 157 seats out of the total170.
Also, 15 members are selected to the SGPC through nomination and others include five Sikh high priests.
The cashrich SGPC manages gurdwaras in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh besides some educational institutes.
When contacted, a senior officer in the state home department said, “Office of the gurdwara election commission has been set up and the vehicle is being provided.” He added the commission would soon start functioning, but claimed that there had not been any delay on the part of the state government.
“It was a timeconsuming process, especially during the Covid pandemic, in which modalities were to be worked out,” said the officer.
The office for the commission has been renovated in Sector 17, Chandigarh.
Since the state government has extended the term of the Punjab revenue commission till March 2022, it is learnt that Justice Saron may continue to serve as chairman of the revenue commission despite his joining as chief commissioner of gurdwara poll panel.
The Punjab and Haryana high court had in December 2011 set aside the SGPC elections while upholding the Sehajdhari Sikhs’ voting rights.
Later, the Supreme Court had in September 2016 re-instated the SGPC house elected in 2011 as the Union government had got the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, amended in Parliament and notified it on May 5, 2016, denying the right to vote to Sehajdhari Sikhs in SGPC elections.
The polls haven’t been held ever since.