Akal Takht punishes SGPC executive for negligence that led to misappropriation of 'saroops'

GS Paul
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, September 18

Akal Takht’s officiating Jathedar, Giani Harpreet Singh, in the presence of five High Priests, on Friday, snubbed the SGPC executive body for negligence which led to the gross misappropriation of 328 Guru Granth Sahib ‘saroops’ by its officials and staff of the publication department, who were authorized to print and manage the holy scriptures.

Admitting to administrative carelessness, SGPC executive body president Gobind Singh Longowal submitted a public apology and volunteered to appear before the Akal Takht for atonement. Longowal said that though they were not being called up, yet they unanimously decided to seek pardon for the lapse in managing the saroops.

Abiding by the strong-worded directions of Giani Harpreet Singh, they did ‘parikrama’ of Golden Temple while reciting ‘waheguru jaap’ with folded hands.

As revealed in the probe report, Longowal apologized while admitting that the officials and staff members issued the saroops without putting them on record and pocketed the ‘bheta’ (the amount charged at the time of issuing saroops).

Giani Harpreet Singh emphasized that it was ‘shameful’ that SGPC staff members misappropriated the saroops under the nose of the SGPC and no efforts were undertaken to check the ledgers.

Pronouncing punishment from the podium of highest Sikh Temporal Seat, the SGPC executive was barred from participating in any religious programme or making a public address for one month i.e till October 17. However, they could attend the annual budget session which has been scheduled for September 28.

Taking cognizance of SGPC’s much-criticised U-turn on initiating criminal proceedings against the guilty officials and staff members for embezzlement, Giani Harpreet Singh cautioned the SGPC against taking pre-mature and ill-conceived decisions that end up making the ‘mockery’ of the state of affairs. The SGPC was directed to take Sikh intellectuals or organisations in the loop before zeroing in on any decision.

SGPC executive members were also directed to sweep the street leading to the Golden Temple Deori from Gurdwara Saragarhi Niwas, around a km-long passage, for one hour for three days.

About skipping the ‘pashchatap path’ (remorse prayers) following the May 2016 fire incident at Gurdwara Ramsar Sahib that left several saroops destroyed, Giani Harpreet Singh termed it as "bajjar galti” (serious misdeed).

The then SGPC executive members, sans former president Avtar Singh Makkar and chief secretary Harcharan Singh, both dead, appeared for penance. All of them submitted a ‘public apology’.

In the absence of Makkar, the then senior vice president Raghujit Singh Virk was questioned for the lapse of not performing remorse prayers. Virk told that all executive members had requested Makkar repeatedly to get it performed, but he did not respond. Shunning the system, Giani Harpreet Singh said that all efforts would be made to grab positions, but when it comes to complying with the ‘maryada’ less enthusiasm was witnessed among the office-bearers.

They were directed not to occupy any position in the SGPC for next one year, considered from today, and the SGPC executive was directed for compliance of the directions. They were also directed to listen to the ‘sehaj path’ and perform ‘sewa’ at local gurdwara as per their physical capacity.

The existing SGPC executive was also directed to conduct one session of sehaj path prayers at Gurdwara Ramsar Sahib, where this incident had occurred, and another one at Akal Takht.