Chandigarh: Punjab’s Bhagwant Mann authorities is all set to amend the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925 to permit a number of channels to air gurbani from Amritsar’s Golden Temple, versus the present apply of only one channel having broadcast rights.
Gurbani is the studying of the Guru Granth Sahib, thought-about a residing Guru, and the singing of hymns in gurdwaras. The Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, is a British-era laws handed by the Punjab legislative council.
Addressing a press convention following a cupboard assembly right here Monday afternoon, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann mentioned that the modification — known as the Sikh Gurdwaras (Modification) Act, 2023 — will probably be made so all of “humankind” is ready to take heed to and watch the stay telecast of gurbani via varied channels.
Mann’s announcement got here a day after he tweeted that the modification was being made to free the telecast of gurbani from the tendering course of.
Broadcast rights for gurbani on the Golden Temple, the very best Sikh shrine, are at present with the PTC — a Punjabi tv community owned by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. It was granted the rights in 2012 by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the physique created for managing gurdwaras in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh underneath the 1925 Act.
PTC’s contract involves an finish in July.
The Punjab authorities’s announcement comes proper in the midst of a raging controversy over the telecast rights for gurbani. The SGPC has objected to the federal government’s announcement, accusing Mann and his Aam Aadmi Get together authorities of interfering with Sikh spiritual affairs to satisfy their very own political ends.
In a tweet Sunday night, SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami claimed that any change within the 1925 Act can solely be caused by Parliament on the suggestions of SGPC’s basic home.
Punjab Chief Minister is interfering in Sikh affairs to meet his political pursuits: Harjinder Singh Dhami
Amritsar:
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Sri Amritsar, President Harjinder Singh Dhami has strongly condemned the announcement made by Punjab Chief… pic.twitter.com/6W4Nl0a4av— Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (@SGPCAmritsar) June 19, 2023
ਮੁੱਖ ਮੰਤਰੀ @BhagwantMann ਜੀ, ਸਿੱਖਾਂ ਦੇ ਧਾਰਮਿਕ ਮਾਮਲਿਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਉਲਝਾਉਣ ਦੀ ਕੋਸ਼ਿਸ਼ ਨਾ ਕਰੋ। ਸਿੱਖੀ ਦੇ ਮਾਮਲੇ ਸੰਗਤ ਦੀ ਭਾਵਨਾਵਾਂ ਤੇ ਸਰੋਕਾਰਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਸਬੰਧਤ ਹਨ, ਜਿਨ੍ਹਾਂ ‘ਚ ਸਰਕਾਰਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਸਿੱਧੇ ਤੌਰ ‘ਤੇ ਦਖ਼ਲ ਕਰਨ ਦਾ ਕੋਈ ਹੱਕ ਨਹੀਂ। ਤੁਸੀਂ ਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਐਕਟ 1925 ‘ਚ ਸੋਧ ਕਰਕੇ ਨਵੀਂ ਧਾਰਾ ਜੋੜਨ ਦੀ ਗੱਲ ਕਰ ਰਹੇ ਹੋ, + pic.twitter.com/pAMLpuHTXW
— Harjinder Singh Dhami (@SGPCPresident) June 18, 2023
Political rivals additionally requested if Mann’s authorities had the ability to make such an modification. The Congress’s Sukhpal Khaira claimed that the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, was a central regulation and was out of the state’s ambit.
So far as my information goes Punjab authorities can’t tinker or amend or add to the prevailing Sikh Gurudwara Act 1925 as its a central act! I’m wondering how @BhagwantMann is talking so as to add a clause within the mentioned Act! Sure the Vidhan Sabha can cross a decision and ship it to Middle for… pic.twitter.com/RzcJEQUThe
— Sukhpal Singh Khaira (@SukhpalKhaira) June 18, 2023
SAD chief Sukhbir Badal, in the meantime, known as it an assault on SGPC’s sovereignty and a problem to the authority of the “Guru ghar” (home of the Guru).
ਕੇਜਰੀਵਾਲ ਦੀ “ਆਪ” ਸਰਕਾਰ ਦੇ ਮੁੱਖ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਦਾ ਪਾਵਨ ਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰਬਾਣੀ ਸੰਬੰਧੀ ਐਲਾਨ ਸਿੱਧਾ ਸਿੱਧਾ ਖਾਲਸਾ ਪੰਥ ਅਤੇ ਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰਧਾਮਾਂ ਉੱਤੇ ਸਰਕਾਰੀ ਹੱਲਾ ਹੈ। ਇਹ ਘਿਨਾਉਣਾ ਫ਼ੈਸਲਾ ਸਿੱਖ ਸੰਗਤ ਕੋਲੋਂ ਗੁਰਬਾਣੀ ਪ੍ਰਚਾਰ ਦਾ ਹੱਕ ਖੋਹ ਕੇ ਗੁਰਧਾਮਾਂ ਦੇ ਸੰਭਾਲ ਸਰਕਾਰੀ ਕਬਜ਼ੇ ਵਿਚ ਲੈਣ ਵੱਲ ਪਹਿਲਾ ਖ਼ਤਰਨਾਕ ਅਤੇ ਹਿਮਾਕਤ ਭਰਿਆ ਕਦਮ ਹੈ। ਇਸ… pic.twitter.com/653C2PFqQI
— Sukhbir Singh Badal (@officeofssbadal) June 18, 2023
Authorized consultants, nonetheless, declare that the modification was throughout the legislative competence of the Punjab legislature. According to senior advocate Anupam Gupta, Punjab’s transfer is constitutionally legitimate, particularly in gentle of the Supreme Courtroom’s September verdict on Haryana gurdwaras.
On 20 September, 2022, the Supreme Courtroom had rejected arguments that the Sikh Gurdwaras Act was a central laws and that the Haryana Sikh Gurdwaras Administration Act 2014 — the laws that was being challenged in courtroom — had violated the regulation, in keeping with Gupta. The Haryana regulation introduced into pressure a separate physique to handle gurdwaras in Haryana, which have been, till then, underneath the SGPC.
“Objections to legislative competence raised by the SGPC, the Akali Dal and the Congress to the newest proposal of the chief minister have been additionally raised earlier than the Supreme Courtroom within the Haryana case,” Gupta advised ThePrint.
He added: “After an in-depth consideration, the Supreme Courtroom rejected all such pleas and strongly affirmed the competence of the Haryana Meeting to enact the mentioned regulation. Since all state legislatures have the identical legislative competence underneath the Structure, what’s true of Haryana have to be accepted as true for Punjab as effectively.”
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‘Political color’
In his press convention Monday, Mann mentioned that his cupboard had permitted inserting Part 125A within the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, to make sure that gurbani is “free to air” from the Golden Temple. He additionally dismissed all objections from the Opposition, citing the 2022 Supreme Courtroom ruling.
In keeping with Mann, the brand new modification will lay down because the obligation of the SGPC to “propagate the teachings of the Gurus by making uninterrupted stay feed of Holy Gurbani from Sri Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) out there freed from price to all media homes, shops, platforms, channels and so on. whoever needs to broadcast it”.
He additionally accused the Badal household of making an attempt to reap the benefits of Sikh spiritual sentiments by giving PTC unique rights.
The SGPC in the meantime claimed that Mann wished to please his masters in Delhi by giving a “political color” to Sikhs’ spiritual affairs.
Addressing a press convention in Amritsar over Mann’s announcement Monday, SGPC chief Dhami claimed that gurbani was already being broadcast worldwide from the Golden Temple totally free and that the Sangat (the Sikh group) each in India and overseas of the nation have been happy with it.
He additionally mentioned that the Punjab and Haryana Excessive Courtroom had already dismissed a petition over the published of gurbani in 2008 declaring the SGPC the competent organisation to resolve on these issues.
In keeping with senior advocate Gupta, quoted earlier, there was little doubt over the Punjab meeting’s competence on this topic and that courts in India, whether or not it was the excessive courtroom or the Supreme Courtroom, had repeatedly rejected the argument that solely Parliament can amend the 1925 Act.
“(Additionally), independently of the judgments of the Supreme Courtroom and the Excessive Courtroom, in my thought-about view, the proposed invoice falls inside Entry 28 of the Concurrent Checklist within the seventh schedule of the Structure,” he advised ThePrint.
This entry offers with charities and charitable establishments, charitable and non secular endowments and non secular establishments.
“The Sikh Gurdwaras Act 1925 is clearly lined by the mentioned entry. Each Parliament and state legislatures are competent to cross legal guidelines on any topic within the concurrent checklist,” he mentioned.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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