The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee ( SGPC; Supreme Gurdwara Management Committee) is an organization in India responsible for the management of gurdwaras, Sikh places of worship, in the states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and the union territory of Chandigarh. SGPC also administers Darbar Sahib in Amritsar.
The SGPC is governed by the president of SGPC. The SGPC manages the security, financial, facility maintenance and religious aspects of Gurdwaras as well as keeping archaeologically rare and sacred artifacts, including weapons, clothes, books and writings of the Sikh Gurus.
Bibi Jagir Kaur became the first woman to be elected president of the SGPC for the second time in September 2004. She had held the same post from March 1999 to November 2000.
History
Foundation
In 1920 the emerging Akali leadership summoned a general assembly of the Sikhs holding all shades of opinion on 15 November 1920 in vicinity of the Akal Takht in Amritsar. The purpose of this assembly was to elect a representative committee of the Sikhs to administer the Harmandir Sahib Complex and other important historical gurdwaras. Two days before the proposed conference the British government set up its own committee consisting of 36 Sikhs to manage the Harimandir Sahib. Sikhs held their scheduled meeting and elected a bigger committee consisting of 175 members and named it Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. The members of the government appointed committee were also included in it. Harbans Singh Attari became vice president and Sunder Singh Ramgarhia became secretary of the committee. By that time Master Tara Singh had started taking interest in Sikh religious affairs. He was one of the 175 members elected to the committee. The formation of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee provided a focal point for the movement for the reformation of Sikh religious places. The committee began to take over management of gurdwaras one by one, and were resisted by incumbent mahants.
Starting in late 1920, a large number of reformers both in urban and rural Punjab had joined to form separate and independent religious orders called jathas. The primary purpose of a jatha was to gain control over local gurdwaras. A jatha under the command of a jathedar would occupy a shrine and try to take over management in its favor from its current incumbents. Sometimes the transfer went peacefully especially in the case of smaller Gurdwaras with less income resources. This was done sometimes with the threat of force.
The Sikh leadership was fully aware of the importance of the press for the success of any movement. It enlisted the active support and sympathy of some of the important nationalist papers in the country like 'The Independent', Swaraj (Hindi), The Tribune, Liberal, Kesri (Urdu), Milap (Urdu), Zamindar (Urdu) and Bande Matram (Hindi).Two of the vernacular dailies Akali (Pbi.) and the Akali-te-Pardesi (Urdu), edited by Master Tara Singh also played an important role. It brought the necessary awakening among the Sikh masses and prepared them to undertake the struggle for reform. With the direct and indirect support of the Central Sikh League, the Indian National Congress and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the Shiromani Akali Dal started a non-violent struggle against the government for the control of the Gurdwaras. The reports of some immoral acts perpetrated at Tarn-Taran reached the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee at its meeting on 14 January 1921. A fortnight earlier a local jatha was beaten up and not allowed to perform kirtan at the gurdwara. It decided to send a jatha from Amritsar under Jathedar Teja Singh Bhuchar. Jathedar Kartar Singh Jhabbar with Akalis from 'Khara Sauda Bar' joined him. On 25 January, a group of about forty workers took over the control of Sri Darbar Sahib Tarn-Taran from its Mahant. In the ensuing conflict two Akalis were killed and several others wounded by the henchmen of the Mahants. The Mahants were ousted from the Gurdwara and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee appointed a managing committee.
Gurdwaras Act of 1925
In early 1920s, Malcolm Hailey, the governor of the Punjab showed his readiness to assist the Sikhs in taking possession of all the important Gurdwaras in the province through a five-member committee constituted by the Sikh members of the legislative council. Hailey presented a draft of a new Gurdwara Bill to the Akali leaders imprisoned in Lahore fort. Master Tara Singh, Bhag singh Advocate, Gurcharn singh Advocate, Teja Singh Akerpuri (Jathedar AkalTakht Sahib) Sohan Singh Josh and Sardar Teja Singh Samundri studied each clause of the bill carefully. The bill met all the Akali demands and was signed into law on 28 July 1925 by the Viceroy of India after its ratification by the Punjab legislative council. The Act came into force on 1 November 1925 with a gazette notification from the government of Punjab.
The Act made a Central Gurdwara Board elected by the Sikhs to be the custodian of all important Sikh places of worship. The first meeting of the Gurdwara board passed a resolution that its designation be changed to Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which was accepted by the government. Thus ended what came to be known in common parlance as the 'Third Sikh War'. The Punjab government withdrew its orders declaring the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and other Akali organs as unlawful associations and recognized the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee as a representative body of the Sikhs. In making the Punjab government agree to such recognition, the Akali leadership undoubtedly scored a victory over the bureaucracy. The Sikh Gurdwara bill met most of the demands of the Sikhs, but the government was willing to release the prisoners conditionally i.e. on the understanding to be given by the Akalis that they would agree to work for the Gurdwara Act. The Shiromani Akali Dal and the executive declared conditions imposed for the release of prisoners as wholly unnecessary, unjust and derogatory. Among the prominent Akalis, Mehtab Singh and Giani Sher Singh along with twenty other Akali leaders accepted the conditional release. Master Tara Singh, Bhag Singh Advocate, Teja Singh Samundari, Teja singh Akerpuri (Jathedar Akal Takht) and Fifteen other Akalis did not come out as government emphasis on eliciting written assurance and acceptance was to Master Tara Singh, an attack on the self-respect of the Sikhs. He said, "We ourselves have enacted this Act and we are responsible for implementing it, then why this condition?" Teja Singh Samundari died of a heart attack in the jail after some time. The Punjab Government failed to prove the charges against Master Tara Singh and the remaining Akalis, few months later they all were released unconditionally. The courage and sacrifice shown by the Akalis during the trial very soon drove the Mehtab Singh's group out of the political field and led to a rift in the Akali ranks, as the newly released Akalis condemned Mehtab Singh's group as collaborators. Mehtab Singh's group was also known as 'Rai Bahadur Party'. This group had majority in the committee and Mehtab Singh was elected its president. The Akali Party launched a campaign against the conditionally released leaders. When the new elections for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee were held, the Akali Party won majority and the newly elected Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee elected Kharak Singh as the President and Master Tara Singh as the Vice President. Since Baba Kharak Singh had not yet been released the responsibility of the president fell on the shoulders of Master Tara Singh.At the time of 1996 the first time SGPC election is held in Himachal Pradesh and the first person who won from that seat is the candidate of Panthak Akalidal whose name is Satnam Singh Gill.
1953 amendment to Gurdwaras Act of 1925 In 1953, an amendment to the 1925 act allowed the reservation of 20 out 140 seats on the SGPC for the members of the Sikh scheduled castes
2016 amendment to Gurdwaras Act of 1925 The 2016 amendment to the act by the Indian parliament stripped around 7 million 'Sehajdhari' Sikhs of voting in the SGPC elections
Presidents
The president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is elected by the Members of SGPC.Know What is SGPC Hindustan Times. Retrieved 28 March 2020. The president holds powers to organise the meetings of SGPC and deal with matters related to issues of Sikh religion and oversees the management of the Gurdwaras. Laws of India. Retrieved 28 March 2020. Since 2008, the president also serves as Chancellor of Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University.Chancellor sggswu.edu.in. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
In 1920 SGPC was established when Gurdwara Reform Movement was started. Sundar Singh Majithia was appointed first President of the committee. This post got legal status after the passing of Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 by legislation in British India.
After passing of this act Baba Kharak Singh became the President. The longest-served president of SGPC was Gurcharan Singh Tohra who served for 24 years and shortest-served was Gopal Singh Qaumi who served only for one day in June 1933. The first and the only woman president was Jagir Kaur. Tara Singh served the most, 7 terms.
List of presidents S. No.Name Portrait TenureFormer President of SGPC sgpc.net. Retrieved 28 March 2020.Before Sikh Gurdwara Act (1920–1926)1Sundar Singh Majithia12 October 192014 August 19212Kharak Singh14 August 192119 February 19223Sundar Singh Ramgarhia19 February 192216 July 19224Mehtab Singh16 July 192227 April 19255Mangal Singh27 April 19252 October 1926After Sikh Gurdwara Act (1926-till now)(2)Kharak Singh2 October 192612 October 19306Tara Singh12 October 193017 June 19337Gopal Singh Qaumi 17 June 193318 June 19338 Partap Singh Shankar 18 June 193313 June 1936(6)Master Tara Singh13 June 193619 November 19449Mohan Singh Nagoke19 November 194428 June 194810Udham Singh Nagoke28 June 194818 March 195011Chanan Singh Urara18 March 195026 November 1950(10)Udham Singh Nagoke26 November 195029 June 1952(6)Tara Singh29 June 19525 October 195212Preetam Singh Khuranj 5 October 195218 January 195413Ishar Singh Majhail18 January 19547 February 1955(6)Tara Singh7 February 195521 May 195514 Bawa Harkrishan Singh 21 May 19557 July 195515Gian Singh Rarewala7 July 195516 October 1955(6)Tara Singh16 October 195516 November 195816Prem Singh Lalpur16 November 19587 March 1960(6)Tara Singh7 March 196030 April 196017Ajit Singh Bala30 April 196010 March 1961(6)Tara Singh10 March 196111 March 196218Kirpal Singh 'Chak Sherewal'11 March 19622 October 196219Sant Chanan Singh 2 October 196230 November 197220Mohan Singh Tur30 November 19726 June 197321Gurcharan Singh Tohra6 June 197323 March 198622Kabal Singh 23 March 198630 November 1986(21)Gurcharan Singh Tohra30 November 198628 November 199023Baldev Singh Sibiya28 November 199013 November 1991(21)Gurcharan Singh Tohra13 November 199116 March 199924Jagir Kaur16 March 199930 November 200025Jagdev Singh Talwandi30 November 200027 November 200126Kirpal Singh Badungar27 November 200127 July 2003(21)Gurcharan Singh Tohra27 July 200331 March 200427Alwinderpal Singh Pakhoke 1 April 200422 September 2004(24)Jagir Kaur23 September 200422 November 200528Avtar Singh Makkar23 November 20054 November 2016(26)Kirpal Singh Badungar5 November 201628 November 201729Gobind Singh Longowal29 November 201727 November 2020(24)Jagir Kaur27 November 202029 November 202130Harjinder Singh Dhami29 November 2021Incumbent
Statistics List of presidents by their tenure