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The 91-year-old Sikh Gurdwaras Act will soon be amended to exclude Sahajdhari Sikhs from voting in the elections to Sikh religious bodies.
A meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today considered the proposal of the Home Ministry for an amendment to the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, to remove the exception given to Sahajdhari Sikhs in 1944 to vote in the elections to select the members of the Board and the Committees constituted under the Act.
Accordingly, the Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Home Ministry to amend the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, with effect from October 8, 2003, an official spokesperson said.
The said amendment was also carried out by a Home Ministry notification dated October 8, 2003, in exercise of the powers conferred by the Parliament under Section 72 of the Punjab Re-organisation Act, 1966.
However, the notification was quashed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana on December 20, 2011, leaving it to the appropriate and competent legislature to decide as to whether or not to amend the Act to that effect.
