MANU/PIBU/0312/2016

Department/Board : Press Information Bureau

Date : 10.03.2016

Approval for Amendment to the Sikh Gurudwaras Act, 1925

The Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today considered the proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding amendment in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 to remove the exception given to Sahjdhari Sikhs in 1944 to vote in the elections to the members of the Board and the Committees constituted under the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, by amending the Act through the Parliament.

Accordingly, the Cabinet has, approved the propopsal of the Ministry of Home Affairs to amend the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 through the Parliament retrospectively with effect from 08.10.2003.

The said amendment in the Act was also carried out by the Ministry of Home Affairs' Notification dated 08.10.2003 in exercise of the powers conferred by the Parliament under section 72 of the Punjab Re-organisation Act, 1966. However, the said Notification was quashed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, vide order dated 20.12.2011, leaving it for the appropriate and competent Legislature to decide as to whether or not to amend the Act to that effect.