sikhpride

There are around five hundred Historical and non historical Gurdwaras in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. All the Gurdwaras in Jammu and Kashmir are managed by a Gurdwara board known as The State Gurdwara Parbandhak Board through respective district Parbandhak committees constituted under the Jammu and Kashmir Sikh Gurdwaras and Religious Endowment Act, 1973 (Act XV of 1973). District Parbandhak Committees are elected by a polling process by the respective Deputy Commissioners. Thus, Electoral College of the state gurdwara board is comprised of elected members of the District Gurdwara Parbandhak Committees (DGPCs) of the state. The Jammu province comprising 10 districts elects eight members for the state gurdwara board while seven members are elected from Kashmir province, including Ladakh region. The Tenure of the board is five years, but, this rule has been violated time and again. For example elections were held in 1997 after a long gap of 14 years, Then the next elections were also delayed and held in 2004. The next elections were due in 2009, but the same are still pending. There is anger among the Sikh community against the alleged casual approach being adopted by the PDP-BJP government to conduct the much-awaited elections. Although the matter is sub-judice, it is widely perceived that the government has done nothing so far to fight the issue legally to get the stay vacated to complete the process of constituting state gurdwara board- which manages all Gurdwaras of the state. “The state Gurdwara board elections have been delayed due to litigation, but it is responsibility of the government to get the stay vacated by fighting the issue legally in the court of law,” said Sudershan Singh Wazir, former president of the state gurdwara board, adding that, “The way government has adopted casual approach in this issue, it appears that those at the helm of affairs are not interested to complete the election process.” The need is that all the Sikhs unitedly should persuade the government to take nessarary action without any dely.