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 date1
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;
1. 7th April, 1972, vide notification No. G.S.R. 241(E), dated 7th April, 1972, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II,
sec. 3 (i).
4
(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”.