SGPC keeps Dhami’s resignation ‘pending’

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has kept pending for the time being the resignation by its four-term president Harjinder Singh Dhami and appealed to him to reconsider his decision.

The SGPC had convened a meeting of its executive body today to discuss Dhami’s resignation and the way forward.

SGPC chief secretary Kulwant Singh Manan said a five-member delegation would approach Dhami and urge him to continue with his services. The delegation would comprise SGPC’s junior vice-president Baldev Singh and executive members Harjinder Kaur, Surjit Singh Tugalwala, Baldev Singh Kayampuri and Sukhharpreet Singh Rode, he said. “Dhami is a good administrator and has a clean image. His contribution to the Sikh body cannot be ignored even under adverse circumstances,” he said.

Manan said a meeting would be convened soon to make a stopgap arrangement for taking administrative decisions in Dhami’s absence.

SGPC senior vice-president Raghujit Singh Virk, who presided over the meeting, said the grounds for Dhami’s resignation were widely discussed and it was unanimously decided to keep the decision “pending” for now.

Dhami had quit on February 17 on “moral ground” over a statement by Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh. The statement had criticised the procedure adopted by the SGPC to remove Giani Harpreet Singh as the Takht Damdama Sahib Jathedar, asserting that only Akal Takht had the authority to investigate Takht Jathedars.

Dhami had also resigned from the seven-member committee set up by the Akal Takht Jathedar to oversee the membership drive of the Shiromani Akali Dal.

Giani Harpreet was dismissed by the SGPC’s executive body on February 10 after a three-member inquiry panel indicted him for “moral misconduct”.