For the last two years and more, so­cial ac­tivist and bud­ding lawyer Jagdeep Singh from Nanded has been sin­gle-hand­edly rough­ing it out in courts against the un­law­ful acts and prac­tices of the Gov­ern­ment of Ma­ha­rash­tra con­cern­ing the gov­er­nance and man­age­ment of Takht Hazur Sahib.  World Sikh News records that it was in re­sponse to his pe­ti­tion that the State gov­ern­ment re­sorted to sub­terfuge and il­le­gal­ity by push­ing new leg­is­la­tion in­stead of act­ing upon the pro­vi­sions of the ex­ist­ing 1956 law and con­duct­ing the elec­tions as di­rected by the Au­rangabad Bench of the Bom­bay High Court. WSN ed­i­tor Jag­mo­han Singh ex­am­ines the on­go­ing le­gal de­vel­op­ments and the role of politi­cians med­dling in Sikh re­li­gious af­fairs.

While the Sikh world is rel­a­tively re­lieved that the Ma­ha­rash­tra State Chief Min­is­ter and Deputy Chief Min­is­ter have pub­licly tweeted to keep the new law on gov­er­nance of Takht Hazur Sahib, in abeyance, so­cial ac­tivist Jagdeep Singh in his never-say-die at­ti­tude and re­lent­less fol­low-up. has served re­minders to the state at its Mantralaya head­quar­ters in Mum­bai on 13^th and 19^th Feb­ru­ary 2024, ask­ing the gov­ern­ment to com­ply with the High Court or­der for im­me­di­ate con­duct of elec­tions to the Takht Hazur Sahib Board.

On 18 Jan­u­ary 2024, the Bom­bay High Court rapped the Gov­ern­ment of Ma­ha­rash­tra on its knuck­les and re­marked, “We can­not com­pre­hend a sit­u­a­tion where de­spite the statute, rules and even the elec­tion rules be­ing in place, the Gov­ern­ment could base on some com­mit­tee’s rec­om­men­da­tion, with­out the pro­vi­sions of the statute hav­ing been sus­pended, has been tak­ing ex­cep­tion to the pro­vi­sions and has been con­tin­u­ing the prac­tice of ap­point­ing ad­min­is­tra­tors one af­ter the other with­out tak­ing steps to con­sti­tute the man­ag­ing com­mit­tee by hold­ing elec­tions.”

It is per­plex­ing that de­spite hav­ing statutes, rules, and elec­tion reg­u­la­tions in place, the gov­ern­ment con­tin­ues to ap­point with­out con­duct­ing elec­tions to form a Board.

Jus­tice Mangesh Patil and Jus­tice Shailesh Brahme, Bom­bay High Court, Au­rangabad Bench

Jus­tice Mangesh Patil and Jus­tice Shailesh Brahme, while rep­ri­mand­ing the gov­ern­ment in the con­tempt pe­ti­tion filed by Jagdeep Singh on 8 July 2023, had cat­e­gor­i­cally or­dered the im­ple­men­ta­tion of di­rec­tions of the Au­rangabad Bench of the Bom­bay High Court for the con­duct of elec­tions.

To sub­vert this or­der, the Ma­ha­rash­tra state Cab­i­net on 5 Feb­ru­ary 2024, lied to the peo­ple of the state and the Sikhs, say­ing that given the in­crease in the num­ber of pil­grims to the sa­cred Takht Hazur Sahib and to im­ple­ment the rec­om­men­da­tions of the Jus­tice Jag­mo­han Singh Com­mit­tee, they were ap­prov­ing the new Takht Hazur Sahib Act, 2024.

The con­tents of the new leg­is­la­tion were nei­ther made pub­lic nor was there any pub­lic or Sikh com­mu­nity dis­cus­sion be­fore their uni­lat­eral ap­proval made known through a tweet of the Chief Min­is­ter’s Of­fice and that of Deputy Chief Min­is­ter De­ven­dra Fad­navis.

No­body pro­vided a ra­tio­nale as to how an In­crease in pil­grims war­rants a new law. Ma­ha­rash­tra CM Ek­nath Shinde and Deputy CM De­ven­dra Fad­navis cheated the Sikhs as the Jus­tice Jag­mo­han Singh Com­mit­tee nowhere men­tioned the pro­vi­sions as stated by them in their tweets. All rec­om­men­da­tions of the Com­mit­tee were ig­nored and by­passed. The name of the Com­mit­tee was sim­ply used to be­fool the peo­ple and the Sikhs.

The con­tent of the af­fir­ma­tions made by the gov­ern­ment was mis­lead­ing and po­lit­i­cal and had rightly at­tracted the wrath of the Court.

Ear­lier, Jagdeep Singh Nam­bar­dar, con­test­ing through his coun­sel Mr Nar­wad­kar Mrigesh had pointed out in the main pe­ti­tion that the three-year term of the Board ex­pired in March 2022. The gov­ern­ment then ap­pointed an ad­min­is­tra­tor but did not pur­sue its duty of prepar­ing elec­toral rolls through the Col­lec­tor of Nanded, as man­dated un­der Rule 3 of the Nanded Sikh Gur­d­wara Sachk­hand Sri Hazur Apchal­na­gar Sahib Board Elec­tion Rules, 1956. It was pointed out that the process should have been started in 2021 -six months be­fore the con­clu­sion of the three-year term.

The elec­tions are never con­ducted in time as per the law and the Board mem­bers en­joy longer terms by pro­long­ing elec­tions, in­vari­ably sat­is­fy­ing the whims and fan­cies of the Gov­ern­ment of Ma­ha­rash­tra.

Jagdeep Singh Nanded, Pe­ti­tioner 

This pe­ti­tion was dis­posed of as the State, through its coun­sel Mr San­gle had as­sured that the de­ci­sion for elec­tions would be soon taken by the Chief Min­is­ter for which Jus­tice S. G. Cha­pal­gaonkar and Jus­tice Nitin V. Sam­bre granted three months on 27 March 2023. Con­tin­u­ing his sus­tained cam­paign, at the ex­piry of the three months on 26 June 2023, as the Dis­trict Col­lec­tor had not taken any step to­wards the prepa­ra­tion of elec­toral rolls, on 27 June, Jagdeep Singh sent a re­minder to the re­spec­tive au­thor­ity.

Ten­der­ing an apol­ogy to the court, Dr. Ra­jagopal De­vara, Ad­di­tional Chief Sec­re­tary, Rev­enue and For­est De­part­ment, stated on oath on 24 No­vem­ber 2023 that the Jus­tice Bha­tia Com­mit­tee rec­om­men­da­tions were be­ing taken into ac­count to frame a new Act and Rules there­un­der for bet­ter ad­min­is­tra­tion of the Sachk­hand Sri Hazur Apchal­na­gar Gu­rud­wara Board, which is cur­rently ad­min­is­tered as per the pro­vi­sions of the Nanded Sikh Gu­rud­wara Sachk­hand Sri Hazur Apchal­na­gar Sahib Act, 1956, The Nanded Sikh Gu­rud­wara Shri Hazur Apchal­na­gar Elec­tion Rules, 1963, Takht Sri Hazur Sahib By-laws, 1975.

Af­ter for­mal­iz­ing the rec­om­men­da­tions of the Jus­tice Bha­tia Com­mit­tee into a new law, the gov­ern­ment promised that the state would con­duct early elec­tions.

 

The gov­ern­ment through the Chief Sec­re­tary tried to jus­tify the var­i­ous ap­point­ments of ad­min­is­tra­tors say­ing that “from 2019 af­ter re­ceipt of sev­eral com­plaints, the State Gov­ern­ment su­per­seded the Board by way of no­ti­fi­ca­tion dated 29.06.2022 and ap­pointed ad­min­is­tra­tor Shri Dr. P. S. Pas­richa (Re­tired IPS). That pe­riod has been fur­ther ex­tended and from 31.07.2023 presently Dr. Vi­jay Sat­bir Singh (Re­tired 1AS) is the new ad­min­is­tra­tor of Gu­rud­wara Board.”

Tac­ti­cally, to hide their mal­prac­tice and in­ter­fer­ence in the Takht Hazur Sahib af­fairs, it was not stated that there is no pro­vi­sion for the ap­point­ment of Ad­min­is­tra­tors un­der the ex­ist­ing Nanded Gur­d­wara Sri Apchal­na­gar Hazur Sa­heb Act 1956.

To hide its mal­prac­tice and in­ter­fer­ence in the Takht Hazur Sahib af­fairs, the gov­ern­ment did not point out to the court that there was no pro­vi­sion for the ap­point­ment of Ad­min­is­tra­tors un­der the ex­ist­ing Nanded Gur­d­wara Sri Apchal­na­gar Hazur Sa­heb Act 1956. The de­ci­sion to ap­point ad­min­is­tra­tors was po­lit­i­cal. 

Even the act of State Gov­ern­ment for su­per­s­es­sion and ap­point­ment of ad­min­is­tra­tors is also un­der chal­lenge in a writ pe­ti­tion be­fore the Bom­bay High Court at Au­rangabad.

In Jan­u­ary 2022, five Sikhs from Nanded –Jagdeep Singh, Ra­jen­dra Singh, Ran­jeet Singh, Harpal Singh, and Amar­jeet Singh had filed a writ pe­ti­tion against the State of Ma­ha­rash­tra, the Dis­trict Col­lec­tor Nanded through their lawyer Mr. Mrigesh Nar­wad­kar seek­ing “a di­rec­tion to is­sue No­ti­fi­ca­tion as per Rule 3 of Nanded Sikh Gur­d­wara Sachk­hand Sri Hazur Apchal­na­gar Sahib Board Elec­tion Rules, 1963 thereby ini­ti­at­ing the process of elec­tion for elect­ing the mem­bers of Board as men­tioned in Sec­tion 6 (1) (ii) of the Nanded Sikh Gur­d­wara Sachk­hand Sri Hazur Apchal­na­gar Sahib Act, 1956,” as well as di­rec­tions to strictly com­ply with all the statu­tory pro­vi­sions of the said Act and rules there­un­der.

Be­fore the fil­ing of the pe­ti­tion, nu­mer­ous rep­re­sen­ta­tions were made to the re­spec­tive au­thor­i­ties for the con­duct of elec­tions to the Takht Hazur Sahib Board.

Jagdeep Singh and other pe­ti­tion­ers have pointed out that they are de­vout Sikhs and el­i­gi­ble elec­tors for the Takht Hazur Sahib Board. The pe­ti­tion­ers have stated that af­ter the en­act­ment of the Act of 1956, the first elec­tion was con­ducted in the year 1965 and that though as per the statute elec­tions are to be con­ducted every three years, the State of Ma­ha­rash­tra has al­ways re­neged from this oblig­a­tion un­der Sec­tion 8 of the Act.

Elec­tions to Takht Hazur Sa­heb Board were held in 2001, then in 2012. Sub­se­quently in 2019 and now let us see what hap­pens. 

Speak­ing to World Sikh News Jagdeep Singh said, “The elec­tions are never con­ducted in time as per the law and that the Board mem­bers en­joy longer terms by pro­long­ing elec­tions, in­vari­ably sat­is­fy­ing the whims and fan­cies of the Gov­ern­ment of Ma­ha­rash­tra.”

Jagdeep Singh fur­ther pointed out that af­ter the elec­tions in 2001, elec­tions were held in De­cem­ber 2012 only af­ter an ag­i­ta­tion by the Sikh San­gat.  Sub­se­quently, elec­tions were due in 2015, but once again af­ter a mas­sive de­mo­c­ra­tic strug­gle, elec­tions were held in 2019.

It can be seen that not hold­ing elec­tions till the Sikhs cry hoarse has be­come a rou­tine prac­tice by the gov­ern­ment sim­ply through its in­ac­tion. When mem­bers of the Sikh com­mu­nity rep­re­sent the au­thor­i­ties and hold ag­i­ta­tions and dhar­nas, only then the gov­ern­ment re­lents to per­form its du­ties stip­u­lated un­der the Act.

It is trite law that in the mat­ters of elec­tions the statu­tory pro­vi­sion has to be strictly fol­lowed. 

Putting things in per­spec­tive, the pe­ti­tion made a sim­ple yet di­rect con­tention that “it is trite law that in the mat­ters of elec­tions the statu­tory pro­vi­sion has to be strictly fol­lowed. Need­less to state and men­tion that the elec­tion process which in­cludes the prepa­ra­tion of vot­ers list has to be­gin be­fore the ex­piry of the term of the con­cerned elected body, be it a lo­cal body or the statu­tory body, such as Gur­d­wara Board. The term of the elected mem­bers can­not be ex­tended be­yond the pre­scribed pe­riod con­tem­plated in the Act.”

It fur­ther pointed out that as far as the Board of Takht Hazur Sahib is con­cerned, “the process (of prepa­ra­tion of elec­toral rolls) shall be ini­ti­ated six months be­fore the ex­piry of the term and that the Re­spon­dent. No. 1 (the State of Ma­ha­rash­tra) -the au­thor­ity has not is­sued a No­ti­fi­ca­tion di­rect­ing Re­spon­dent No. 2 (Dis­trict Col­lec­tor) to pre­pare the voter list. The term is about to ex­pire on 8 March 2022, still, there is no ac­tion or steps taken by Re­spon­dent No. 2 for con­duct­ing the elec­tions.”

Jagdeep Singh and his as­so­ci­ates started the de­mo­c­ra­tic process to force the gov­ern­ment to con­duct elec­tions on time, yet the State, as we see here, has re­sorted to lies and ju­di­cial de­lays to per­sist with its own de­ci­sion to push elec­tions be­yond the sched­ule. Jagdeep Singh con­tin­ues to hold a daily protest, in­clud­ing fast­ing at Nanded, which sees the par­tic­i­pa­tion of po­lit­i­cal, so­cial, and re­li­gious lead­ers.

We can­not trust the Gov­ern­ment of Ma­ha­rash­tra to ho­n­our their word. They will back­track any­time. At the mo­ment, they have only given an as­sur­ance and passed on the mat­ter to a Cab­i­net sub-com­mit­tee. Let us wait and watch.

Speak­ing to The World Sikh News about his fu­ture strat­egy, Jagdeep Singh said, “Given the track record of the gov­ern­ment of Ma­ha­rash­tra, we can­not trust them to ho­n­our their word. They will back­track any­time. At the mo­ment, they have only given an as­sur­ance and passed on the mat­ter to a Cab­i­net sub-com­mit­tee.”

“Their real test will be what they tell the Bom­bay High Court when the mat­ter re­lat­ing to the con­duct of elec­tions to the Takht Hazur Sahib Board comes up at the next hear­ing on 21 March 2024,” he added.

The hid­den agenda of the Bhar­tiya Janata Party to un­der­mine the Sikhs and use leg­is­la­tion to take full con­trol over the man­age­ment of the sa­cred Takht Hazur Sahib and other Sikh in­sti­tu­tions has been thor­oughly ex­posed by the Shiv Sena-BJP gov­ern­men­t’s mis­placed ov­er­en­thu­si­asm to en­act a new law and sub­vert due process man­dated un­der the ex­ist­ing leg­is­la­tion.

The real test of the Gov­ern­ment of Ma­ha­rash­tra will be what they tell the Bom­bay High Court when the mat­ter re­lat­ing to the con­duct of elec­tions to the Takht Hazur Sahib Board comes up at the next hear­ing on 21 March 2024.

It will be in the fit­ness of things to men­tion the role of the past re­li­gious and po­lit­i­cal lead­er­ship of the Sikhs, which had willy-nilly ac­cepted gov­ern­men­tal in­ter­fer­ence for po­lit­i­cal pur­poses has con­tributed to this rig­ma­role.

 

We need more Jagdeep Singhs to fight the de­signs of gov­ern­ments that make such sin­is­ter at­tempts and to con­test the lethargy and chi­canery of the es­tab­lished Sikh lead­er­ship at all lev­els in Nanded, Ma­ha­rash­tra, and Pun­jab.

It is time to pon­der and con­sider whether Sikhs should con­duct their elec­tions or evolve their tra­di­tional meth­ods of se­lec­tion of rep­re­sen­ta­tives, through Gur­mata-com­mu­nity con­sen­sus -for gov­er­nance of his­toric and all other Gur­d­waras and al­lied in­sti­tu­tions.