Delhi Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1971
No: 82 Dated: Dec, 30 1971
THE DELHI SIKH GURDWARAS ACT, 1971
ACT NO. 82 OF 1971
An Act to provide for the proper management of the Sikh Gurdwaras and Gurdwara property in Delhi and for matters connected therewith.
BE it enacted by Parliament in the Twenty-second Year of the Republic of India as follows:—
PART I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extent and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called the Delhi Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1971.
(2) It extends to the whole of the Union territory of Delhi.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a) “appointed day” means the date on which this Act shall come into force;
(b) “Board” means the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Board constituted under section 3 of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwaras (Management) Act, 1971 (24 of 1971);
(c) “Committee” means the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee established under section 3;
(d) “Delhi” means the Union territory of Delhi;
(e) “Director Gurdwara Elections” means the Director Gurdwara Elections appointed by the Central Government under section 13;
(f) “Gurdwaras” means the Sikh Gurdwaras situated in Delhi as were, immediately before the appointed day, being managed by or affiliated to the Board and includes such other local Gurdwaras as may, after the appointed day, be affiliated to or managed by the Committee;
(g) “Gurdwara property” means,—
(i) all movable and immovable property which, immediately before the appointed day, vested or was kept in deposit in the name of the Board;
(ii) all property which stands in the name of the Gurdwaras or in the name of the Board or the present or old managers of the historic Gurdwaras;
(iii) all offerings in cash or kind made in various Gurdwaras or institutions managed or controlled by the Committee;
(iv) all property in cash or kind, movable as well as immovable that may be acquired by purchase, exchange or otherwise by the Gurdwaras, or the Committee, from time to time;
(v) all grants, donations or contributions made, from time to time, by any person or authority to the Gurdwaras or the Committee, and includes any actionable claim with respect to such Gurdwara property;
(h) “local Gurdwara” means a Gurdwara in Delhi, other than a Gurdwara under the control or management of the Board immediately before the appointed day;
(i) a person shall not be deemed to be “ordinarily resident” in a ward on the ground only that he owns or is in possession of a dwelling-house therein and a person absenting himself temporarily from his place of ordinary residence shall not by reason thereof cease to be ordinarily resident therein;
(j) “patit” means a Sikh who trims or shaves his beard or hair (keshas) or who after taking Amrit commits any one or more of the four Kurahitis;
(k) “registered Singh Sabha” means a Singh Sabha registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860), which is managing or controlling a local Gurdwara in Delhi;
(l) “regulation” means a regulation made under this Act by the Committee;
(m) “rule” means a rule made under this Act by the Central Government;
(n) “Sikh” means a person who professes the Sikh religion, believes and follows the teachings of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and the ten Gurus only and keeps unshorn hair (Keshas). For the purposes of if any question arises as to whether any living person is or is not a Sikh, he shall be deemed respectively to be or not to be a Sikh according as he makes or refuses to make in the manner prescribed by rules the following declaration:—
“I solemnly affirm that I am a Keshadhari Sikh, that I believe in and follow the teachings of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and the ten Gurus only, and that I have no other religion.”;
(o) “Amritdhari Sikh” means and includes every Sikh who has taken Khande ka Amrit or Khanda Pahul, prepared and administered according to the tenets of Sikh religion and rites at the hands of five Pyaras or “beloved ones”