Sikh Gurdwara judicial panel slaps contempt notice on SGPC

Amritsar, Punjab: In what has come has come as a blow to the SGPC management, the Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission (SGJC) has slapped a contempt notice on SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar and secretary Dalmegh Singh for allegedly violating the commission directions in respect of commissioning of a private firm for the audit of the SGPC.

The full bench of the commission has fixed December 1 as the next date of hearing in the case. The SGJC has issued the directions on a petition filed by Baldev Singh Sarsa, a leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Panch Pardhani) who had sought the revocation of a contract between the SGPC and a Chandigarh-based chartered accountants’ firm, Ms S.S. Kohli and Associates. The SGJC had directed the SGPC authorities on October 20 not to hire the firm at exorbitant monthly charges of Rs 3.5 lakh. Sarsa had pleaded that the contract had violated the norms and SGPC chief Avtar Singh had allegedly indulged in favouritism and nepotism.

The three-member commission bench, headed by Manmohan Singh Brar and comprising Amrik Singh Randhawa and Ajwant Singh Mann, today observed that in spite of the restrictions, the SGPC advertised in the papers to hire a firm and it was nothing but a violation of the directions, sources said.

The SGPC, it is learnt, had passed a resolution in the executive in January giving the contract to the firm and the same was challenged by Sarsa through a petition filed with the commission. The SGPC had publicised the application for tenders on November 11. “This is a clear-cut violation of the commission’s orders,”alleged Sarsa.

Source: TNS