Kurukshetra, Dec 17 (PTI) Former Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Jagdish Singh Jhinda, who was on December 1 nominated as a member of its newly formed ad-hoc panel, resigned from his membership on Saturday.

He was nominated to the 38-member panel by the Haryana government.

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The Supreme Court had earlier this year upheld the constitutional validity of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Act, 2014, under which there is a provision for an ad-hoc panel to look after the affairs of gurdwaras till a committee is constituted for it through elections.

Jhinda told PTI over phone that he has sent his resignation to the Haryana governor, a copy of which has also been sent to the Kurukshetra deputy commissioner.

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Asked about the reason for his resignation, he said he acted as per his conscience.

The deputy commissioner was to chair a meeting of the new members to elect the panel's office bearers on December 21, according to a Haryana government's notification.

In his resignation, Jhinda said, "I was appointed as one of the 38 members of the HSGMC (Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee). I wish to resign willingly without any kind of pressure."

Earlier, he had alleged that the state government had ignored leaders from the Sikh community who had struggled for the formation of a separate committee for Haryana.

He had also claimed that the government had accommodated its loyalists in the ad-hoc panel of the HSGMC.

In the new ad-hoc panel, of the 38 members nominated by the government, just four persons were from among those who had struggled for several years ago for the cause of setting up a separate body (HSGMC), Jhinda had claimed.

He said that out of the 20 members who were members of the committee in 2014 only four were nominated for the new ad-hoc panel.

Asked about his next step, Jhinda said he has called a meeting of his associates and well-wishers at Kurukshetra where they would decide about the future course of action.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)