Hry gurdwara panel chief Jhinda resigns citing health reasons

KARNAL:HARYANA Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (ad hoc) president Jagdish Singh Jhinda resigned from his post on Friday, citing health reasons. Following the development, senior vicepresident Didar Singh Nalvi has been appointed as the acting president of HSGMC.

Talking to Hindustan Times, Nalvi said that he was given the charge of the acting president following Jhinda’s resignation and the final decision on a full-time president will be taken on January 30. Though Jhinda could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, his aide Avtar Singh Pannu said that Jhinda had been unwell for the past six months and so he decided to resign.

Besides having long association with HSGMC (ad hoc), Jhinda had also formed a Janta Akali Dal last year and announced to contest assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Haryana. In 2014, the outgoing Congress government led by the then chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led had constituted a 41-member ad hoc committee to manage, supervise and take care of gurdwaras in Haryana, giving a boost to the demand of a separate Sikh body in the state.

The committee constituted under the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Act, 2014, was passed by the the Haryana assembly.

But later the SGPC approached the Supreme Court, challenging the formation of a separate Sikh body in Haryana. The Supreme Court is expected to deliver a verdict in the case in March this year.