A sec­tion of the com­mu­nity, wor­ried about how elec­tions to DS­GMC and even SGPC are ma­nip­u­lated by the state ma­chin­ery, ju­di­cial de­lays, has been voic­ing the need for Sikhs to them­selves have their own reg­u­la­tory mech­a­nism to con­duct elec­tions to evolve a Sikh-ori­ented Pan­thic sys­tem of elec­tion or se­lec­tion. Such voices will fur­ther gain cur­rency and im­por­tance if one looks at the weird ways of func­tion­ing of the Di­rec­torate Gur­d­wara Elec­tions and de­lay in de­liv­er­ance of jus­tice by the ju­di­ciary as ev­i­denced in the case of In­der­mo­han Singh. Jus­tice de­layed is jus­tice de­nied and this is so very true for Sikh in­di­vid­u­als and in­sti­tu­tions, notwith­stand­ing their po­lit­i­cal af­fil­i­a­tion, ar­gues Gurmeet Singh of the WSN Delhi Desk.

HOW IRONIC CAN IT GET CAN BE SEEN from the case of the then Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Delhi can­di­date In­der­mo­han Singh, who raised ob­jec­tion to an­other per­son be­ing co-opted in the pre­vi­ous DS­GMC polls in 2017, in­stead of him, ul­ti­mately landed up with a judge­ment in his favour in Jan­u­ary 2021, barely a month be­fore the an­nounce­ment of fresh polls for the new mem­bers of DS­GMC.

On 9 March 2021, the Di­rec­torate of Gur­d­wara Elec­tions, in a no­ti­fi­ca­tion de­clared the co-op­tion of Ran­jeet Kaur of the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Badal as a mem­ber of Delhi Sikh Gur­d­wara Man­age­ment Com­mit­tee, null and void and re­placed it with In­der­mo­han Singh.

In 2017 Di­rec­tor Shur­bir SIngh of the Di­rec­torate of Gur­d­wara Elec­tions did not heed the ob­jec­tion of In­der­mo­han Singh and in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Badal Dal, in clear vi­o­la­tion of the rules and reg­u­la­tions of Delhi Sikh Gur­d­wara Act, 1971, co-opted Ran­jeet Kaur of Sant Garh.

In­der­mo­han Singh -a ca­reer bu­reau­crat went from be­ing on dep­u­ta­tion to the Di­rec­torate Gur­d­wara Elec­tions, to be­come a can­di­date of the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Delhi and is cur­rently an ad­viser to Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Badal. He had filed a case in 2017 against the Di­rec­torate of Gur­d­wara Elec­tions, DS­GMC, who had co-opted mem­bers Ran­jeet Kaur of Sant­garh and Sarvjit Singh of Ro­hini.

The court of ADJ Ra­jin­der Singh, Tis Haz­ari Courts ruled in favour of In­der­mo­han SIngh on 25 Jan­u­ary 2021. The judge­ment has raised ques­tions on the func­tion­ing of the Di­rec­torate of Gur­d­wara Elec­tions and Gov­ern­ment of NCT of Delhi which di­rectly con­trols the Di­rec­torate.

In­der­mo­han Singh was im­me­di­ately co-opted as a mem­ber at the fag end of the last term of DS­GMC.   There is no fi­nan­cial oblig­a­tion levied against the erring of­fi­cer by the court. There is no com­pen­sa­tion to In­der­mo­han Singh for be­ing de­nied his right to be a mem­ber of the DS­GMC.

Re­cently, dur­ing the course of the nom­i­na­tion of can­di­dates for the April elec­tions, a le­gal ex­pert in Gur­d­wara elec­tions and a for­mer mem­ber of the Di­rec­torate of Gur­d­wara Elec­tions -In­der­mo­han Singh, has once again gone pub­lic to state that the ba­sic norms for can­di­da­ture have been flouted by the par­tic­i­pat­ing groups and over­looked by the Re­turn­ing of­fi­cers of the Di­rec­torate of Gur­d­wara Elec­tions, even now.

The Sikh San­gat of Delhi needs to know whether all de­ci­sions and ap­provals made by Ran­jeet Kaur, dur­ing her nearly 4-year il­le­gal term will be quashed and set aside, par­tic­u­larly con­sid­er­ing the fact that she was the Vice-Pres­i­dent of the body for a long time and had briefly of­fi­ci­ated as Pres­i­dent of DS­GMC in the ab­sence of Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa.

The al­le­ga­tions then made out by In­der­mo­han Singh re­quires se­ri­ous con­sid­er­a­tion by Delhi Sikhs. He had al­leged that Ran­jeet Kaur was a paid em­ployee of Guru Harkr­is­han Sahib Pub­lic School, run by DS­GMC. It was also men­tioned that she dyed her hair black and that she trimmed her eye­brows, which is in con­tra­ven­tion of the norms of Re­hat Maryada and also the con­di­tion­al­i­ties for can­di­dates. She was cat­e­gorised as a Patit-apos­tate as de­fined in the pro­vi­sions of the Delhi Sikh Gur­d­wara Act 1971, and hence in­el­i­gi­ble.   It was also strongly al­leged that she is not an Am­rit­d­hari Sikh, which is manda­tory to be a mem­ber – elected or co-opted. Sarvjit Singh was also pulled up as he used to dye his beard, mak­ing him fall into the Patit-apos­tate cat­e­gory.

Re­cently, dur­ing the course of the nom­i­na­tion of can­di­dates for the April elec­tions, a le­gal ex­pert in Gur­d­wara elec­tions and a for­mer mem­ber of the Di­rec­torate of Gur­d­wara Elec­tions -In­der­mo­han Singh, has once again gone pub­lic to state that the ba­sic norms for can­di­da­ture have been flouted by the par­tic­i­pat­ing groups and over­looked by the Re­turn­ing of­fi­cers of the Di­rec­torate of Gur­d­wara Elec­tions, even now.

In­der­mo­han Singh has men­tioned he knows can­di­dates who will soon face le­gal bat­tles as they do not meet the el­i­gi­bil­ity cri­te­ria.

Speak­ing to WSN, In­der­mo­han Singh men­tioned that he per­son­ally knows can­di­dates who do not know to read or write Pun­jabi, are not Am­rit­d­hari Sikhs and some who are di­rectly re­lated to em­ploy­ees of the DS­GMC in­sti­tu­tions or schools run by DS­GMC. He cat­e­gor­i­cally men­tioned he knows can­di­dates who will soon face le­gal bat­tles as they do not meet the el­i­gi­bil­ity cri­te­ria.

It is a tragedy that right un­der the nose of the San­gat, the par­tic­i­pat­ing groups are show­ing scant re­gard for the Maryada of the Guru and the guide­lines of the pro­vi­sions of the Delhi Sikh Gur­d­wara Act. Not only the groups and par­ties but also the di­rec­torate and the Delhi gov­ern­ment is not both­ered to make sure that the guide­lines of the Act are fol­lowed.

Par­tic­i­pat­ing groups are show­ing scant re­gard for the Maryada of the Guru and the guide­lines of the pro­vi­sions of the Delhi Sikh Gur­d­wara Act. Not only the groups and par­ties but also the di­rec­torate and the Delhi gov­ern­ment is not both­ered to make sure that the guide­lines of the Act are fol­lowed.

The Delhi Sikh Gur­d­wara Act,1971, Part 2 un­der Sec­tion 10(1) of the Act, clearly states the el­i­gi­bil­ity cri­te­ria of a mem­ber. “A mem­ber will not be qual­i­fied if he/​she is not an Am­rit­d­hari Sikh; if be­ing an Am­rit­d­hari Sikh, trims or shaves his beard or ke­shas; takes al­co­holic drinks; is a patit; not be­ing a blind per­son can­not read and write Gur­mukhi. This last point is fur­ther ex­plained as i. be able to read Gur­mukhi if he is able to re­cite Sri Guru Granth Sahib in Gur­mukhi and ii. Write Gur­mukhi if he fills his nom­i­na­tion pa­per for elec­tion to the com­mit­tee in Gur­mukhi in his own Hand­writ­ing.

Many poll ob­servers sus­pect that many of the 310 can­di­dates are likely to face le­gal ac­tion and dis­qual­i­fi­ca­tion in view of the above pro­vi­sions, es­pe­cially when it comes to knowl­edge of Pun­jabi. There are con­firmed re­ports that many can­di­dates are ea­gerly chas­ing gur­d­waras for old-dated cer­tifi­cates of be­ing Am­rit­d­hari.

Next week, if the elec­tions take place and when Sikhs vote, it is hoped that these el­i­gi­bil­ity cri­te­ria are not over­looked. The re­spon­si­bil­ity lies on the Di­rec­torate. If not fol­lowed, the San­gat money will be used by DS­GMC to fight le­gal cases which will be an­other huge waste of funds of gur­d­waras.