Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)

What it is: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is the elected body that manages the historic gurdwaras of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, among them Sri Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar. Its own website calls it the “Parliament of Sikhs” and says it works under the directives of Sri Akal Takht Sahib. It runs schools, colleges, a museum and a library, and its executive appoints and removes the jathedars of the takhts in its area, as it did in 2025.

How it began: The Akali, or Gurdwara Reform, movement of the early 1920s set out to free gurdwaras from hereditary mahants. A Sikh assembly on 15 and 16 November 1920 elected a 175-member committee and named it the SGPC. It first met at the Akal Takht on 12 December 1920, and the Akali Dal was founded two days later, meant to work under its control. The committee was registered on 30 April 1921. The campaign cost lives, among them the Nankana Sahib massacre of 20 February 1921 and the firing on volunteers at Jaito on 21 February 1924. The Sikh Gurdwaras Act came into force on 1 November 1925 and made the body a statutory, elected board. The first election under the Act was held on 18 June 1926.

Who has led it: The SGPC’s own list counts 45 terms. Sundar Singh Majithia was the first president. The SGPC’s list gives him 12 October 1920 to 14 August 1921; the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says he was elected on 12 December 1920 and stepped down early in 1921 to join the government. Baba Kharak Singh succeeded him, received the keys of the Darbar Sahib treasury in January 1922, and returned as president from 1926 to 1930. Master Tara Singh then held the post in several terms between 1930 and 1962. Sant Chanan Singh served from 1962 to 1972, and Gurcharan Singh Tohra held it in separate terms between 1973 and 2004. Later presidents include Bibi Jagir Kaur (three terms), Avtar Singh Makkar (2005 to 2016), Kirpal Singh Badungar, Gobind Singh Longowal (2017 to 2020) and Harjinder Singh Dhami, president since 29 November 2021.

Key moments

• 1920 to 1925: the founding, the keys campaign of January 1922, and the Guru ka Bagh and Jaito morchas. The SGPC and Akali Dal were declared unlawful on 12 October 1923 and the ban was lifted on 13 September 1926.
• 1925: the Sikh Gurdwaras Act. The Encyclopaedia says its scheduled list began with 241 gurdwaras, 65 of which stayed in Pakistan after 1947.
• 10 February 2025: the executive dismissed Giani Harpreet Singh as jathedar of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, citing allegations of “moral misconduct”. Dhami resigned as president on 17 February, citing moral grounds. The executive met on 21 February and unanimously kept the resignation pending, and it was still held over on 7 March. On 17 March the executive unanimously rejected it, and on 19 March Dhami said he would resume his duties.
• 7 March 2025: the executive removed Giani Raghbir Singh as Akal Takht jathedar and gave Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj charge as acting jathedar.
• 3 November 2025: Dhami was re-elected for a fifth consecutive term, with 117 of 136 votes.
• 7 December 2025: Amritsar police registered an FIR over the 328 missing saroops of Guru Granth Sahib, naming 16 people, among them former SGPC staff. The complaint alleges sacrilege from 19 May 2016. The Akal Takht had earlier examined the matter and taken departmental action, and the Tribune reports that its report found misappropriation of money by some employees, not sacrilege.

Where it stands: The SGPC’s own page says the house has 191 members, 170 of them elected. That house was last elected in 2011. The Act calls for an election every five years, and on 10 October 2026 four Sikh bodies asked the Union Home Minister to direct the Gurdwara Election Commission to hold the poll before the next Punjab Assembly elections. On the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act, the Tribune reported on 6 October 2026 that the Punjab government’s panel was due to hold a joint meeting with a committee formed by the SGPC.