Convicted of fraud, CKD chief Santokh Singh resigns
COPS ENTER GURDWARA AFTER VERBAL DUEL AMONG MEMBERS
AMRITSAR : A day after being convicted in a 12-year-old case of land fraud by the court chief judicial magistrate (CJM) here, Dr Santokh Singh resigned as the head of socio-religious organisation Chief Khalsa Diwan (CKD) on Saturday.
The executive committee that met at the gurdwara on the premises of CKD headquarters here unanimously accepted his resignation and appointed a five-member committee to manage affairs of the organisation that runs over 50 educational institutions in Punjab, besides orphanages and hospitals. Santokh Singh was elected president of the CKD on March 25 this year after Charanjit Singh Chadha resigned on the Akal Takht’s directions.
However, Santokh Singh, who was sentenced to five-year jail and fined ₹40,000 on Friday, is still the member as the executive committee did not discuss the issue. “The issue of his membership will be included in the next executive meet which would be A high drama was witnessed during the executive committee meeting when a resolution was tabled to reinstate membership of former honorary secretary Bhag Singh Ankhi, Avtar Singh and former Guru Nanak Dev University vice-chancellor Harbhajan Singh Soch, who were expelled during the tenure of former president Charanjit Singh Chadha.
held after around 10 days,” said Narinder Singh Khurana, honorary secretary.
The five-member care-taking committee comprises Dhanraj Singh, Sarabjit Singh (both vice presidents), Narinder Singh Khurana and Surinder Singh Rumalian Wale (both honorary secretaries) and Nirmal Singh (resident president).
“This committee has been constituted to manage day-to-day affairs of the institutions running under the CKD for two months. As soon as the resolution was tabled, members of anti-ankhi faction opposed it, saying it was not in the agenda for the meeting and cannot be tabled on the spot as it was not an emergency issue. The situation turned tense when both the factions indulged in a verbal spat. On the demand of some members, cops deployed outside entered the gurdwara, which further led to arguments.
As tenure of general house of the CKD is ending in February next year, we have decided to not conduct separate election for the post of president and will go for elections after two months,” said Khurana.
The meeting of the 24-member executive committee was followed by general house, which endorsed the resolutions passed earlier in the day. In the 513-member general house of the 115-yearold organisation, only around 125 members turned up.