Several members of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) have been issued notices by the Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) to respond to a complaint that alleges they coloured their hair and/or drank alcohol, acts that flout the committee membership rules.
DMC member Kartar Singh Kochhar said the panel had received a complaint from a member of the Sikh community against DSGMC members, including its president Manjinder Singh Sirsa. The complaint alleges that some of the DSGMC members allegedly coloured their hair and beards, and drank alcohol, both of which disqualify candidates from becoming members of the committee, according to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1971.
Dope test
He said the DMC had issued notices to 20 DSGMC members on March 25 seeking a response. With only three members responding, the remaining had been given an extension to respond by April 11, he said. Mr. Kochhar said a “dope test” for alcohol and a “committee of Panj Pyare” to check whether hair had been cut or coloured would be set up.
‘No authority’
Mr. Sirsa, however, said the DMC did not have the authority to question the DSGMC members.
He termed the complaint “politically motivated by the Aam Aadmi Party government”, since the State government appoints the DMC members.
“We are answerable to the Akal Takht, not the government. They have no right to issue such notices. This is an attempt by the AAP government to intervene in religious affairs,” said Mr. Sirsa, who is also the BJP MLA from Rajouri Garden.
‘Issued to individuals’
DMC chairperson Zafarul-Islam Khan, however, said the notices were issued to “individuals, not the DSGMC” and that if the respondents replied to the notices saying that they followed the rules then there would be no case.
According to the complaint submitted by Daljeet Singh on January 29, many members of the DSGMC were “patit”, which means a Sikh who violates the tenets of the religion, as per the definition of a Sikh given in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwaras Act.
Sikh Rehat Maryada
“It is further submitted that as per knowledge of the applicant, some of the members are in the habit of consuming alcohol and colouring beards, which is totally against the rules and regulations of the Act and also in violation of the Sikh Rehat Maryada, which is the rule book of Sikhism. It is also submitted that a dope test of all members of DSGMC is required to prove the allegations,” the complaint read.
