The general house meeting of Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) was cancelled on Tuesday due to lack of quorum.
According to information, 17 members had requested the president to remove four members, including the senior vice-president and junior vice-president, from the executive body for remaining absent from meetings. Following the request, the general house meeting was called to decide the fate of the members not attending the meetings.
While 33 members were required to complete the quorum, 32 members arrived to attend the meeting.
A senior committee member said a couple of members from the dissenting group had agreed to attend but backed out at the last minute. The matter will be discussed again and the next date for the meeting will be announced.
Due to the quorum issue, the committee has yet to pass the budget for the current and previous years. The meeting was important given the financial constraints at Miri Piri Hospital, due to which staff salaries have not been paid for two months. The HSGMC president had assured staff that after the general house meeting, the budget would be cleared and salaries released.
HSGMC president Jagdish Singh Jhinda said, “A total of 32 members arrived to attend the meeting but since the quorum was not complete, the meeting could not be held. The members have decided to hold public meetings in the areas of members who have not been attending, and let the Sikh sangat know the wrong intentions of those members. The committee will tell the sangat why development works have come to a standstill under HSGMC.”
“As per the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Act, a two-thirds majority is mandatory to complete the quorum in both the executive committee and the general house. This provision is being misused by dissenting members to create obstacles in the smooth functioning of HSGMC. We will seek time from the Haryana CM to discuss the issue and request him to bring a suitable amendment to replace this provision with a simple majority,” he added.
Jhinda further said, “To ensure smooth functioning of Miri Piri Hospital, we are planning to meet SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami. We will discuss the matter so that SGPC continues financially supporting the hospital until HSGMC budget issues are resolved. We want to assure staff that salaries will be released soon. A new date for the general house meeting will be announced soon.”
