Sehajdhari Voting Row

SGPC goes to HC against Harbhagwan

Chandigarh, September 9
In yet another twist to the ongoing controversy in the Sehajdhari Sikhs voting rights case, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) today moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking the prosecution of senior advocate Harbhagwan Singh.
Senior advocate-cum-Punjab’s former Advocate-General Harbhagwan Singh had told the High Court Bench that he was appearing on behalf of the Centre and that the impugned notification debarring Sehajdhari Sikhs from voting in the SGPC elections stood withdrawn. But, the Centre, the very next day, had clarified that the notification was still in force.
The application, under Section 151 of the CPC read with Section 340 of the CrPC, seeks the initiation of the proceedings against Harbhagwan Singh and alleged co-conspirators for false evidence and criminal conspiracy under Section 193 and 120-B of the IPC.
The SGPC has claimed that Harbhagwan Singh had never represented the Union of India in any of the civil writ petitions in the matter prior to September 1, when the Bench on his statement disposed of the case.
The SGPC claimed that even on September 1, no authority letter or document was placed before the full Bench to show he was authorised and instructed or briefed to appear on behalf of the Union of India and to make any such statement.
The SGPC claimed it was apparent that Harbhagwan Singh deliberately made a false and wrong statement. In the process, he not only misled the High Court, but also outraged the religious sentiments of the whole Sikh community across the world, particularly the SGPC, the Sant Samaj, all religious institutions of the Sikhs and the Jathedars of all the five Akal Takhts.
The SGPC added the deliberate and false statement was made with an oblique motive and was a result of a very deep-rooted conspiracy of higher-ups of political parties, whose sole aim was to stall the SGPC elections scheduled to be held on September 18 by adopting illegal means, as 10 candidates have already been elected unopposed.
A reference has also been made to the interview of Union Law Minister Salman Khursheed carried in The Tribune.
The news item, dated September 6, has not only been annexed with the application, but has also been culled out and reproduced in the application. Quoting The Tribune, the application says, “Putting the blame of the SGPC poll controversy on senior counsel Harbhagwan Singh, Law Minister Salman Khursheed today said it was the counsel who failed to represent the government properly in the case and he had therefore been withdrawn.
“How could he convey to the high court a decision that had not even been taken by the government? Who would have taken the decision to rescind the 2003 notification barring Sehajdhari Sikhs from participating in the SGPC poll? Either the Cabinet would have taken that decision or the Home Ministry through the Prime Minister. When none of this was done, how could the counsel say what he said to the court?” Khursheed told The Tribune today.