Chandigarh, The Haryana Cabinet met today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Shri Naib Singh Saini in which the draft of Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Amendment Ordinance, 2024 was approved to amend the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Act, 2014.
According to the proposed draft ordinance, now the chairman of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission will be a judge of the High Court, if he is appointed, and if a judge of the High Court is not appointed, then a District Judge can be appointed.
If the District Judge is also not appointed as the chairman of the commission, then one of the three selected members of the commission will be appointed as the chairman on the basis of seniority (whether it is seniority of service or practice at the bar).
According to the draft, the tenure of the chairman or member will be five years from the date of his assuming office. At present, the chairman is appointed with the qualification that at the time of his retirement or resignation, he was a district judge and on his retirement had not less than 10 years of tenure as such.
The Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission is a quasi-judicial authority, whose decisions are final. Disputes relating to gurdwara property, its funds and disputes between the gurdwara committee, executive board or any other body are to be decided by the commission.
Therefore, it is considered appropriate that a judge of the High Court should also be considered for appointment as a member and chairman of the commission. Apart from this, the upper limit of age of 65 years given in clause (iv) of sub-section (1) of section-46 has also been removed in the ordinance. The said amendment has been made in section 46 of Haryana Act 22 of the year 2014.
